LSG’s low‑profile pick pays off

Lucknow Super Giants spent 2.60 crore rupees on Mukul Choudhary at the 2026 Indian Premier League auction, and on April 9 he repaid part of it with an unbeaten 54 from 27 balls that stole a three-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. He came in with Lucknow at 128 for 7 in a chase of 182 and finished it on the last ball. (espncricinfo.com) (sportstar.thehindu.com) The surprise is not only that Mukul Choudhary is 21 and uncapped. It is that Lucknow bought him from a 30 lakh rupee base price after he had played only a handful of domestic Twenty20 innings for Rajasthan. (iplt20.com) (espncricinfo.com) His auction case was built on one short burst in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic Twenty20 tournament. In five innings there, he made 173 runs at a strike rate of 198.85 and hit 13 sixes, which told teams he could clear the ropes without a long runway. (espncricinfo.com) (cricbuzz.com) Lucknow did not buy him to bat in the top order like a domestic star who needs 40 balls. Their squad already had Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh and Ayush Badoni, so Mukul Choudhary’s lane was lower-order hitting and wicketkeeping cover. (espncricinfo.com) (iplt20.com) That role is one of the hardest in Twenty20 cricket because a No. 7 batter often arrives with 20 or fewer balls left and no time to settle. ESPNcricinfo’s match report says Mukul Choudhary had already faced a similar last-over equation for Rajasthan in December, when he needed 25 in the final over against Delhi in domestic cricket. (espncricinfo.com) Lucknow then gave him a very narrow brief instead of asking him to be a mini-version of every finisher in the league. After the Kolkata win, Cricbuzz reported that Mukul Choudhary credited captain Rishabh Pant’s advice and coach Justin Langer’s backing, which suggests the franchise had spent time on his exact end-overs job rather than treating him as bench depth. (cricbuzz.com) His own background fits that assignment. Sportstar reported in January that he became a wicketkeeper almost by accident when his academy side needed one, and that switch kept him in the game long enough to become a rare domestic player who offers both glove work and six-hitting. (sportstar.thehindu.com) The Kolkata chase showed what that preparation buys you on a match night. Sportstar’s score report says his 54 not out contained 7 sixes and only 2 fours, which is exactly the scoring pattern teams want from a No. 7 who may have to erase 12 or 15 an over without batting long. (sportstar.thehindu.com 1) (sportstar.thehindu.com 2) Lucknow’s win was not an auction masterstroke on the scale of a superstar buy. It was a smaller thing and maybe a more repeatable one: identify one domestic skill, pay 2.60 crore rupees for it, give the player one clear job, and wait until the night that job decides a game. (espncricinfo.com 1) (espncricinfo.com 2)