Mukul Choudhary\u2019s turnaround in Match No. 15 of IPL 2026 has become the talk of the tournament\u2014impacting plans, momentum and confidence in one sweep. But what does that mean for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)? They currently sit on a single point from four outings. Their most recent setback was the kind of match that looked destined to end in a win, especially after the side posted a total that should have been enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to hurt,\u201d Dale Steyn said on ESPNcricinfo\u2019s TimeOut show. \u201cAnd it will hurt more because so much hasn\u2019t quite clicked for the three-time champions so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) followed a spell where KKR\u2019s win chances appeared firmly in their control. Using ESPNcricinfo\u2019s match data, KKR\u2019s probability stood at 76.65% after 15 overs of their defence. It then climbed to 85.79% in the following over, before dipping slightly to 82.23% one over later\u2014only for it to slip away as Choudhary took charge.<\/p>\n
Steyn explained why the timing makes the defeat sting. \u201cIt is hard to pick yourself up. You have had a rough season. You almost feel like by the 16th, 17th over\u2014at least the 18th over\u2014the game is yours. You sense that if you bowl with a bit of smart cricket, you bowl three balls, you give three extra deliveries to Avesh [Khan, Choudhary\u2019s partner], and the game is done. That\u2019s exactly where it is. But those extra balls went to Mukul. He punished them for boundaries, and that pretty much becomes your season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the Choudhary surge, KKR had put together a lot of the right ingredients. They made 181 for the loss of just four wickets, a total that suggests they were not able to accelerate at the right moments despite having batters in their ranks. After the powerplay they had reached 56, but the innings never truly gathered speed. Ajinkya Rahane struck 41 at a strike rate of 170.83, yet the rest of the batting struggled to find the same rhythm. Not until Rovman Powell\u2019s late burst did anyone move beyond Angkrish Raghuvanshi\u2019s 136.36 strike rate\u2014Powell finished unbeaten on 39 off 24 balls. Crucially, between overs 11 and 15, KKR managed just 17 runs and lost three wickets.<\/p>\n
Aaron Finch pointed to players who looked like they were still searching for their best rhythm. \u201cThere was a couple of batters that looked like they were seriously searching for form,\u201d Finch said. \u201cWhen Cameron Green [32 not out in 24 balls] came in, it looked like he wasn\u2019t sure about his game. Do I go for a big hit? Do I just settle in and accumulate for a bit? And what happens when you do that is you end up losing your intent. You face a lot of dot balls and it builds pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cRinku [Singh, 4 off seven balls], on the other hand, looked completely out of sorts. It was almost like he wasn\u2019t watching the ball as closely as he could have. He\u2019s trying to play the shot, but his weight is moving away from the ball. It was really unusual\u2014something I haven\u2019t seen from him before. It felt like a batting order that lacked confidence in the middle overs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steyn was also critical of Green\u2019s approach, noting that the all-rounder has been under pressure with low returns with the bat and has not been used as a bowler\u2014until that changed against LSG\u2014after joining the KKR group through a record auction bid.<\/p>\n
\u201cCameron Green, I\u2019m thinking Digvesh [Rathi] bowling to him and he\u2019s literally just blocking it back,\u201d Steyn said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m hearing the commentators say, \u2018he\u2019s waiting for his match-up\u2019. But which match-up? You have to take on the bowlers. Who is the match-up? He\u2019s just patting balls back. In a phase where you feel that even if you face ten or 12 balls, you should be in the game by then\u2014you should be really going. Watching that doesn\u2019t give me confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powell suggested KKR\u2019s position on the scoreboard gave them hope as the chase progressed. By the 16th over, LSG had lost seven wickets, and that collapse appeared to tilt the match towards KKR. However, things began to unravel. Green was brought into the attack for the 19th over, even though Kartik Tyagi and Navdeep Saini had each already bowled an over earlier. Vaibhav Arora also had an over available, but he was assigned to the final over. In the end, Green conceded 16 runs in that crucial spell.<\/p>\n
In the post-match conference, Powell explained what he believes should happen when a team senses a game is slipping away. \u201cA lot of the time, when you feel the pressure, you need to bring your best bowlers a little earlier than the 19th over, so that when you reach the 19th over you still give yourself a chance. I think that is what happened with us tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a bowling unit, we know that if we bowl the ball into the wicket, it\u2019s a good option, and he kept hitting those balls. Maybe we could have gone a touch wider a bit earlier. But we\u2019re sitting here looking back with hindsight, and I\u2019m not someone who talks in hindsight. When you\u2019re out there and the pressure is on, and you\u2019ve got guys telling you what to do\u2014or you already have a plan\u2014it comes down to execution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also feel we could have gone to a wider plan just as they went for the last ball, the last over. We could have switched to a wider plan after we realised he [Choudhary] was hitting those short deliveries. We could have gone to a wider plan a few balls earlier to see how we could get a few dot balls.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mukul Choudhary\u2019s turnaround in Match No. 15 of IPL 2026 has become the talk of the tournament\u2014impacting plans, momentum and confidence in one sweep. But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: KKR\u2019s Match 15 Turnaround After Mukul Choudhary","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"KKR\u2019s IPL 2026 hopes hinge on Mukul Choudhary\u2019s Match 15 turnaround\u2014shifting momentum, raising confidence, and putting their next fixtures in focus.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n