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Kolkata Knight Riders probably prepared for Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, and Rishabh Pant. But Mukul Choudhury came out of the syllabus, which cost a three-wicket defeat against Lucknow Super Giants On April 9, at the Eden Gardens. When Mukul came, LSG still had to chase 78 from 42 balls. For a long time, he held the wicket, letting Ayush Badoni lead the chase. But after the Delhite left, it was on Mukul. And he didn’t disappoint.

Mukul walked in at the 13th over’s final ball and played his first shot in the final ball of the 15th over. Mukul defended well against Sunil Narine’s final over, in which he bagged Mohammed Shami. And then started the Mukul show.

He watched two balls from Vaibhav Arora and then smashed him for a four and ran a helicopter shot for a six. Tyagi got smashed for 18 runs, Cameron Green followed for 19, with Avesh Khan mainly a stand-by to Mukul.

In the final over, KKR needed to defend 14. Doable on the sweaty pitch at Eden Gardens. At one point, it looked like Vaibhav won the battle. After getting smacked for a six, Vaibhav nailed two back-to-back Yorkers but failed on the next ball. Mukul went for a maximum over the deep cover.

By that time, Avesh had taken off his helmet. He needed that call for a run, making sure he just doesn’t smash it on the ground as he did last time. And he took the run. Mukul did miss the swish. But the KKR keeper, Angkrish Raghuvngshi, got frozen; so did Vaibhav, standing in the middle of the pitch. Mukul could have fumbled or collided with the bowler, but luck had other plans.

Scenes after the win are something to remember. Mukul, who has been someone yet to be cultivated from the LSG camp, fell on the turf to thank his god. His teammates ran in. Digvesh Rathi gave him the tightest hugs as KKR left stranded for another defeat in a well-fought match.

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What caught the attention during the match was that the gallery had empty patches scattered here and there. The rain in the last match had already ruined the mood. There were forecasts of rain today, too, which might affect the attendance. And then comes the obvious reason—KKR's performance. KKR is still with the 1 point they got from the washed-out match from the Punjab Kings.

A team suffering from too many injuries at this point, indeed, gives a fight today. The skipper, Ajinkya Rahane’s bat, worked. After a controversial dismissal of Finn Allen (9), it's Rahane (41) and Angkrish (45) who kept it going for KKR. Cameron finally contributed with 32 runs, and a late surge from Rovman Powell (39) took KKR to 181 runs. Prince Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, and Avesh Khan all got a wicket each under their name.

From the LSG’s batting side, there have been collective but minimal contributions before Ayush scored a half-century (54). And Mukul worked on the base made by Ayush.

For Arora, Vaibhav took the two openers, and Anukul Roy bagged another two. Sunil Narine, Kartik Tyagi and Cam Green took a piece each.