'Lucknow Super Giants had lost this game' - Aakash Chopra lauds Mukul Choudhary's knock in LSG's thrilling win vs KKR

Aakash Chopra lauded Mukul Choudhary for his heroics against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Thursday, April 9, which helped Lucknow Super Giants register a thrilling last-ball win. The Rishabh Pant-led franchise needed 54 runs in the last four overs and Mukul scored 52 of them.

Chopra said that Lucknow were well and truly out of the game, but Choudhary's audacious knock helped them get the better of the three-time champions.

"Mukul Choudhary, brother, a star is born. He has played an incredible knock. In a game where there wasn't even a hope for a win, this boy showed confidence there. 'You guys are thinking it's difficult to win this game, but I am just counting the number of sixes that I have to get.' What a player, and what a knock," Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

"They had no business winning this game. The Lucknow Super Giants had lost this game because no batter was left. Only Mukul Choudhary was left, and he is a kid who is playing his first IPL," he added.

He had started farming the strike from the 16th over: Aakash Chopra

The former India opener highlighted the fact that Choudhary took most of the strike from the 16th over onwards, as he didn't have enough trust in his partners in the lower order. Chopra advised Lucknow to sort their team composition as they have only seven batters and five bowlers despite the Impact Player rule.

"He had started farming the strike from the 16th over because he didn't have confidence in the batters at the other end. Actually, the Lucknow Super Giants are the team that has seven batters and five bowlers. You can play 12 players because you have an Impact Player, but the batting ends at No. 7, and they don't have a sixth bowler. It is something that they need to address," he said.

Chopra pointed out that the 21-year-old Choudhary hit sixes to all areas of the park and didn't just target one or two particular areas of the field.

"They had fallen way behind, and the batting was over, but he kept hitting sixes. He hit Cameron Green and Vaibhav Arora, and he won the game single-handedly. Every time he played two dot balls, he hit a six after that, and he hit everywhere. He brought out a small helicopter as well. He pulled short balls for sixes, hit behind as well, and the six he hit over cover was the icing on the cake. Brilliant, well done," Chopra observed.