Mukul Choudhary made the world sit up and take notice of his ability as he snatched victory from Kolkata Knight Riders, single-handedly. Lucknow Super Giants were on the brink of defeat chasing 182, but then the 21-year-old played a stunning knock of 54 not out off just 27 balls to take his side over the line.
Once Ayush Badoni fell, KKR belived they can win it from here, but had little idea about Mukul’s ability as a batter. He kept his calm under pressure and hit those fours and sixes while keeping LSG in the hunt. Mukul played some unbelievable shots, especially the helicopter-shot reminiscent of his idol MS Dhoni.
But there is a back story to Mukul’s journey to the IPL and then playing a match-winning knock yesterday, giving him the spotlight that he rightly deserves.
Mukul’s cricket journey started with his father’s dream. He began playing at the age of 12-13 in Jhunjhunu, even though resources were limited. Later, he moved to Jaipur and then Gurgaon in search of better opportunities, focusing on T20 cricket to improve his game and prepare for bigger stages.
“Even before my dad got married, it was his dream that his son would play cricket. Financial condition was not very good at the start. Began playing at 12-13 years. There were not a lot of academies (in Jhunjhunu) and then I moved to Jaipur. I saw how much T20 cricket is growing, so I moved to Gurgaon and stayed there for 3-4 months,” Mukul said in the post-match presentation.
He revealed that the key moment in his journey came during an Under-19 match against Uttar Pradesh. It was then that his father truly believed he had the talent to go far. He remembered how his runs in that low-scoring game showed he could perform at a higher level.
“My dad tells me there was an U-19 match against UP. It was a low-scoring match but I scored runs and that is when he knew I would make it big,” he added.
Mukul said that even though it was only his second match under lights, he didn’t feel burdened by the pressure. Instead, he saw it as a chance to prove himself.
“Second match (under lights). Pressure is always there. But God has given us this opportunity, and I try to do what I can do. I see it as an opportunity, rather than taking pressure. My plan was to play till the end, and I believe in myself that much that I knew if I batted till the end, I could make the team win,” he added.
LSG head coach Justin Langer said that the knock is a “massive moment” in Mukul’s life and career.
“The thing about him is there’s very few players like the Tim Davids, the Andre Russells – and I’m not even going to say it, I’m not even going to compare it – but that’s how he’s lived his career,” Langer told the host broadcast after the match. “And he’s got used to finishing off games like that, so he has to think about it, and he’s only 22 (21) years old.”
“He’s so young, and he’s got that look in his eyes, he’s hungry,” Langer said.
“You know when you first come in, you try so hard, and [this victory will] just be a massive moment in his life and his career… What I love about him, there’s areas that we saw straight away. I mean he can do that – what we’re seeing on the screen now – we’ve seen all that side of it. But he’s also gone away, he’s worked on the short ball. We’ve been doing drills every day with him, and then it came out in practice today, so he’s got a very curious mind, he wants to get better, and like I say, after you work hard at something and you take it out to the middle… We’ve seen plenty of that for the last four weeks or so since he’s been with us,” he added.
