Out of nowhere, Mukul Choudhary lit up Eden Gardens with a blistering 54 from only 27 balls, steering Lucknow Super Giants past Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets in their IPL 2026 clash. Set 182 to win, LSG faltered – slumping to 128 for seven after sixteen overs. Then came the 21-year-old’s fury: a whirlwind knock laced with 2 boundaries and 7 towering hits over the ropes. Without warning, he launched Vaibhav Arora twice into the stands in the 17th over; moments later, under fresh fire from Kartik Tyagi, cleared the fence another pair of times. A blistering start to the 19th over came off Cameron Green’s bat – two towering sixes followed by a sharp boundary cut through the field. Then, when the last over began, Vaibhav on the mound, he launched into it, clearing the ropes twice more under fading light, fifty up, victory sealed.
“My journey started when my father was not even married, his dream was his son has to play cricket. I started at the age group level but there were not good academies in Sikkim. I played matches in Delhi and Guragaon and that helped me. When I was playing against U19 versus UP, it was a low scoring game and I made a contribution, so he knew then that I would make it big. It was only my second match.”
“God has given me this opportunity, there can be pressure but it is also an opportunity to make a name for myself. My aim was to bat till the last and see what happens. Even I liked the first six, I had not scored a single six in two games, so the first one was special. In my mind I knew one out of the four balls will be in the slot and I was just waiting for it. From younger days I like hitting sixes and not playing along the ground,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Who Is Mukul Choudhary?
Fresh off his mark in home games for Rajasthan, Mukul Choudhary caught fire during the IPL 2026 auction. Bidding heated up – LSG clashed hard with Rajasthan Royals. Price climbed fast, landing at Rs 2.6 crore.
A start in January 2023 marked Mukul’s entry into first-class play, facing Chhattisgarh. Four matches later, 103 runs sit beside his name, the peak being 45. His T20 journey began in October that year versus Jharkhand, opening the innings with a 35 on the board. Across seven such contests now, 226 runs have come, built steadily at 37.66 per dismissal – top mark: 62, still unbeaten.
Starting out slow, then came the shift – keeping wickets opened new doors. After that, bat in hand, he started tearing through bowlers with raw intent. A standout run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy turned heads early. That performance? It lit up auction sheets fast. Across five knocks, 173 runs piled up, all at nearly 200 per hundred balls. Speed like that doesn’t hide
