Lucknow Super Giants Beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 3 Wickets; Mukul Chaudhary Stars With Match-Winning 54

In a tightly contested match between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Lucknow Super Giants emerged victorious over Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets in IPL 2026. The young batsman, Mukul Chaudhary, who scored a fifty for LSG, made the match. In pursuit of 182 runs, Mukul Chaudhary showed great form for LSG and scored an unbeaten 54 from 27 balls to secure victory for his team.

After the match, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said, "This defeat is hard to digest. I'm really proud of my boys for the way we played. I thought Mukul Choudhary's innings was decisive. He played his shots very bravely. But in such matches, you don't want to find fault too much. I thought we were playing very well for 18 overs. Sometimes mistakes happen in the last two overs. But credit goes to Mukul and that partnership."

Did bowling slower balls on the wicket work for you? Rahane replied, "Yes, those balls worked. They had nothing to lose. 30 runs to win in two overs. They were swinging the bat on every ball. As I said, it was really brave of them to play those shots. There were some brilliant shots." I thought some brilliant balls were bowled, but he batted brilliantly. I would say there were some misfielding errors, but other than that, our bowlers did a fantastic job.

How does he view this match? He said, "When you lose a match, you can easily think about things we could have done better. In terms of batting, the partnership between Raghuvanshi and me, and then between Rovman Powell and Cameron Green, scoring 180, 185 on this wicket was very good. It wasn't easy to play big shots. The slower balls were coming in and it was difficult to hit them."

Was there any idea to surround Avesh on the first ball of the last over? Rahane said, "The intention was to keep Avesh Khan on strike. But again, due to fielding restrictions and time limits, we had to keep five fielders inside. So, it's difficult for the bowlers as well. When you have five fielders inside the circle, especially when bowling the last over, it's difficult."