Mukul Choudhary smashed 30 from the final two overs to inspire Justin Langer’s Lucknow to an unlikely IPL win
Cameron Green returned to the bowling crease for first time since the T20 World Cup, but the joy was short-lived as he delivered a costly penultimate over in winless Kolkata’s latest defeat.
The Indian Premier League’s most expensive overseas star played as a fully-fledged allrounder for the first this season, chipping in with an unbeaten 32 as his Knight Riders posted 4-181 after being sent in at Eden Gardens on Thursday.
But, handed the ball for his second over with Lucknow Super Giants needing 30 runs off the final two overs, Green copped the full force of Mukul Choudhary’s late onslaught that delivered the Justin Langer-coached side a thrilling three-wicket victory off the last ball of the match.
With Lucknow seven wickets down, Choudhary first smashed Green for 16 off the 19th over, swatting away the quick’s short stuff for two big sixes.
Then Choudhary completed the extraordinary heist by clouting two more sixes off Vaibhav Arora’s final over, including an amazing blow at full stretch that cleared extra-cover to level the scores off the penultimate ball, a seventh maximum that took the gifted 21-year-old, in his first IPL season, to a 26-ball half-century.
In a breathless finale, Choudhary swished and missed the final short delivery but he and tailender Avesh Khan scuttled through for the winning bye, getting Lucknow to their target on 7-182 as wicketkeeper Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s shy at the stumps went wide.
It was a tough start with the ball for Green, who had finally been given clearance to bowl after his back problems, but went for 28 off his two overs, KKR’s most expensive bowler as they suffered their third-straight loss to start the campaign.
Green picked up a wicket with just his second delivery of the tournament, when Lucknow’s skipper Rishabh Pant was caught off a top edge as the visiting side slipped to 7-128 prior to Choudhary’s match-winning effort.
Earlier, No.4 Green joined forces with West Indies powerhouse Rovman Powell to help lift KKR to a competitive total after they were reduced to 4-111 following skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s 41 from 24 balls and Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 45.
The West Australian took 15 balls to find his first boundary before finishing with three fours and a six from his 24 deliveries faced, the latter a glorious blow over long on off veteran Mohammed Shami.
Powell also faced 24 balls to contributed 39 not out in their unbroken 70-run stand.
When Lucknow chased, Australia’s T20 skipper Mitch Marsh went for 15 off 11 balls at the top of the order but Ayush Badoni’s 54 followed by Choudhary’s amazing knock proved enough to propel them to fifth in the table.
IPL 2026 standings
Australians in IPL 2026
Chennai Super Kings: Matt Short ($255k), Spencer Johnson ($255k, replaces Nathan Ellis ($340k))
Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Starc ($2m)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.13m), Tim David ($510k)
Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis ($1.9m), Ben Dwarshuis ($745k), Mitchell Owen ($510k), Cooper Connolly ($510k), Xavier Bartlett ($136k)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Cameron Green ($3.5m)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.5m), Travis Head ($2.38m), Jack Edwards ($510k, withdrawn)
Lucknow Super Giants: Josh Inglis ($1.49m), Mitchell Marsh ($578k)
