Kolkata, April 9 Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant praised Mukul Choudhary on Thursday for his outstanding, unbeaten innings against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL match, calling it a fantastic effort.
Chasing 182, LSG were in a difficult position at 104 for 5 in 12.5 overs when Mukul came to bat. He demonstrated his batting skills, remaining unbeaten on 54 off 27 balls with two fours and seven sixes, helping his team win by three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish.
"I don't have the words to describe it, but what a fantastic effort (from Mukul)," Pant said at the post-match presentation. "One thing I made sure of is that, personally, to trust someone, and when you believe in a player, they can do amazing things. The character, with each and every match like this, shows that something is developing. We don't want to talk too much about it, but something is brewing," Pant added.
Pant also praised Ayush Badoni for his crucial 54-run knock in 34 balls.
"He (Badoni) is now a senior player in our team. That's the role we have given him. When we talk about Badoni in situations like this, these are the kind of contributions we expect from him," Pant said.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said that the defeat against LSG was a tough one, but credited Mukul Choudhary's defining, unbeaten innings.
"It was a tough loss, but I'm proud of the boys for the way we played. Mukul's innings was crucial. While there might be execution errors in the last two overs, credit goes to Mukul for that partnership.
"For them, it was about maximizing every opportunity. They needed to score 30 runs in two overs, so they had to take risks. A few balls were good, but he played brilliantly," Rahane said.
"When you lose a game, it's easy to say what you could have done better. Scoring 180 on this wicket was not easy. Let's give credit to the batter for the way he batted. The intention was to keep Avesh on strike, and we had to field five fielders, which makes it difficult for the bowlers," he added.