Last December, Mukul Choudhary was handed a daunting task in an IPL chase versus Delhi, needing 25 runs from the last over as Rajasthan’s hopes teetered. He wrestled control almost single-handedly, tightening the target down to five required from the final delivery. In that moment, he told himself one clear thought: if his approach had been honest, the finish would arrive with maximum impact.
That instinct did not go unnoticed. IPL scouts marked his ability, and within weeks—after a competitive bidding process in Abu Dhabi—Lucknow Super Giants secured him for INR 2.6 crore.
Five months on, the setting shifted to Eden Gardens, but the storyline carried a similar edge—only the pressure was far greater. Expectations were louder, the spotlight brighter, and Lucknow’s situation against Kolkata Knight Riders was fading fast. The chase ultimately rested on a 21-year-old playing only his third IPL match.
With the scoreboard reading 128 for 7 and the target at 182, Choudhary had limited support left: a new batter in Avesh Khan and possibly a couple more bowlers to come. Early breakthroughs did not arrive, yet Choudhary’s start was slow by his usual standards—Sunil Narine’s spells brought three missed moments in four deliveries, leaving him with just two runs from six balls. Then the stadium screens flashed the reality of the situation: 54 needed off 24.
But what Lucknow knew—and Kolkata did not—was that Choudhary’s confidence runs deep. “I try to take the game deep,” he later said. “I can win it if I stay till the end.”
Over the next four overs, his bat turned the match upside down. Seven sixes came in quick succession, each one more daring than the last. When the dust settled, Choudhary remained unbeaten on 54 off 27, and Lucknow pulled off a win that had looked all but lost.
His innings had been quiet for a while, stretching to two runs off eight balls before his first boundary finally arrived in the 17th over. A slower ball drifting outside the off-side invited no immediate alarm, and it only found the deep-square-leg fence.
The following delivery, however, signalled intent. Vaibhav Arora missed his yorker and the ball sailed over long-on. Choudhary struck it with a whip of his wrists, producing power with very little backlift—an approach that carried a striking resemblance to MS Dhoni.
That similarity was not accidental. Choudhary is openly a Dhoni admirer—not only for the strokes, but for the mindset of finishing too. Speaking to reporters in Kolkata, he said, “I always wanted to be a finisher like Dhoni. I even became a wicketkeeper because of MS sir, and the helicopter is one of my favourite strokes.”
Still, Choudhary’s game was never limited to one signature shot, and Kartik Tyagi learned that quickly at the start of the 18th over. Tyagi offered a short, wide ball as the first option, and Choudhary’s quick hands and long reach sent it sailing over long-off for six—setting the tone immediately.
Then he chose control over chaos. Refusing a single on the next ball, Choudhary made his plan obvious: he would manufacture his own momentum by farming the strike, meaning Kolkata’s path to victory would require repeatedly finding answers to him.
From there, a direct contest unfolded. The Kolkata camp appeared to scheme for a batter playing under lights for only his second game. Three balls later, Tyagi again missed his length, and Choudhary launched the full toss over wide long-on.
Yet even with momentum, 30 runs from the final 12 balls is rarely straightforward. Cameron Green began the 19th over by keeping it short for the first two deliveries. But he became predictable, and Choudhary stayed back to smash the third ball for six over long leg. After a top-edged four arrived by good fortune, the equation tightened to 21 off seven. As is typical in a partnership like this, the expectation was that Choudhary would keep taking the strike, aiming to clear most of the work in the last over.
Kolkata may have anticipated that pattern, so they placed a packed off-side field. Green went short and wide, but it wasn’t wide enough. Choudhary launched a pull with such force that by the time Green turned his head, the ball was already crashing toward the lower stands. With 16 runs extracted from Green’s over, Lucknow needed 14 off the last—though there was one complication. Choudhary found himself at the non-striker’s end as Vaibhav Arora prepared to bowl the 20th over.
Arora, though, did not keep Avesh on strike for long. With 13 required from five balls, it became essentially a one-versus-one situation. As Arora walked back to reset his run-up, Choudhary dropped down onto his haunches, visibly steadying himself and reining in the intensity.
Later, he explained the habit: “I like to go down on my knees and take a breather occasionally. It allows me to gather my thoughts and push aside all the external noise. I’ve relied on this technique for a long time.”
Arora delivered another short and wide ball, and Choudhary cleared the front leg to send a flat-batted, scorching six over deep midwicket.
Seven runs off four deliveries pushed Lucknow ahead in the contest, but Arora adjusted his angles quickly. Two clean yorkers followed, along with two dots. At that point, the question lingered—would Choudhary’s brilliance fade just when it mattered most?
Choudhary’s response later was calm. “I was not worried,” he said. “I knew that a bowler may bowl one good bowl or two good balls. But at that stage, I knew he’d miss his length at some point, and I knew I just needed that one chance.”
The chance arrived with the penultimate ball. Arora went full and wide from around the wicket, and Choudhary seized it. He carved a six over extra cover, using his power and fluid timing to place it exactly where it needed to go. With one run needed off one ball, Lucknow could not lose in regulation time. A hurried bye off the final delivery sealed the chase. Choudhary dropped to his knees, looked upward, and clasped his hands in gratitude, before rising into a reunion—Digvesh Rathi running in to embrace him.
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At the post-match press conference, Choudhary dedicated his player-of-the-match award to his father, Dalip Choudhary. He framed the result as something that had been shaped in advance. Thursday night, he felt, was the product of Dalip’s belief turning into manifestation.
Dalip grew up as a major cricket enthusiast and, long before his marriage, made a promise to himself that if he ever had a son, he would guide him toward cricket.
When Mukul was born in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in August 2004 to Dalip and Sunita Choudhary, the family had already prepared for the sacrifices required to chase that dream. What sounded unrealistic before birth became a practical plan once the child arrived.
Dalip made sweeping changes. He quit his teaching role at a coaching centre and even sold his portion of the family home to move nearer to cricket infrastructure. He also took a risky leap into a new venture in real estate and hospitality—fields he had not worked in earlier—believing that greater financial support would help keep Mukul’s pathway open.
Sunita, too, altered her routine once cricket took centre stage. She began waking up at 4am to prepare meals and then followed her son to training in the afternoon. In between, she would keep an eye on practice, sometimes glancing from her own classroom toward the ground to ensure sessions were being completed properly. Over time, she left her job and moved to Jaipur so she could stay close to Mukul as he joined the Aravalli coaching centre.
At Aravalli—long viewed as a hotbed of Rajasthan talent—Mukul’s mentor Vikas Yadav and coach Vijay Golada first felt that his teenage growth spurt might make him a more effective bowler. But once they saw his natural ability to clear the ropes, they pushed him toward batting.
Within that role, his skills sharpened: leg-side pick-ups, straight hitting, and a deep-crease style that allowed him to turn yorkers into punishable balls. At 18, Rajasthan picked him in the Ranji Trophy. A year later, at 19, he made his T20 debut.
The transition to senior domestic cricket, however, was steep. He struggled to make a strong impression, and his coaches even described his early domestic campaign as a flop. Still, Choudhary kept repeating the same message to himself: one season has to click if he keeps working.
That breakthrough arrived in 2025-26. First, he top-scored in the Under-23 CK Nayudu Trophy with 617 runs, an average close to 103, and a strike rate above 142. The following month, he was drafted into Rajasthan’s senior T20 squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In that competition, he played five innings, but his impact lingered. A 54 against Mumbai and an unbeaten 62 in a remarkable win over Delhi from the lower order helped shape his numbers—nearly a 199 strike rate and an average of 57.66—and soon after, the IPL opportunity arrived.
Mukul’s first big IPL statement may be behind him now, but the story is only beginning. Justin Langer, his head coach at Lucknow, had recently said that Mukul has the potential to become the “scariest No. 6 or No. 7 in Indian cricket.” Talent is already evident; now, consistency will be the next challenge. For the time being, though, he deserves to enjoy the afterglow of an innings that flipped a nearly impossible chase into reality as he wakes up Friday morning.
