Lucknow Super Giants pulled off a last-ball, three-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders after a late assault by debutant Mukul Choudhary and a half-century from Ayush Badoni in an IPL match on Thursday.
Chasing 181, LSG were in trouble at 128/7 in 16 overs before Choudhary turned the game with an unbeaten 54 off 27 balls. He shared an unbroken 54-run stand with Avesh Khan, which came off 24 deliveries.
Needing 30 off the last two overs, Choudhary attacked Cameron Green in the 19th over, scoring 16 runs. With 14 required off the final over, he hit two sixes off Vaibhav Arora, including one off the penultimate ball. The winning run came off the final delivery.
Earlier, Badoni scored 54 off 34 balls to keep LSG in the chase despite regular wickets. Nicholas Pooran made 13, while Kartik Tyagi and Sunil Narine applied pressure during the middle overs.
KKR had reduced LSG from 41/0 to 84/3. Arora dismissed Aiden Markram (22) and Mitchell Marsh (15) in one over, while Green removed LSG captain Rishabh Pant (10).
In the first innings, KKR posted 181/4 after a late partnership between Green and Rovman Powell. Green remained unbeaten on 32 off 24 balls, while Powell made 39 not out off 24 deliveries. The pair added 84 runs for the fifth wicket.
KKR were 98/1 at the halfway stage, with Ajinkya Rahane scoring 41 and Angkrish Raghuvanshi making 45. However, they lost three wickets between overs 11 and 14 and slipped to 115/4.
Rinku Singh was dismissed for 4 as KKR struggled to accelerate in the middle overs. With the result, KKR remain winless after four matches, their only point coming from a rain-affected game against Punjab Kings. LSG registered their second consecutive win.
