Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant has showered praise on Mukul Choudhary after a thrilling three-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Thursday. LSG were reeling at 128-7 in the run-chase of 182, but Chaudhary single-handedly took his team over the line.

The 21-year-old from Jhunjhunu scored a blistering knock of 54 runs off just 27 balls with the help of two fours and seven sixes. He scored his runs at a strike rate of 200 and got the job done for his team.

LSG needed 30 runs off the final two overs; however, Choudhary kept his team in the hunt after scoring 16 runs against Cameron Green in the penultimate over. The youngster then smashed Vaibhav Arora for two sixes in the final over.

Rishabh Pant said in the post-match presentation, “When we see him (Mukul) in the nets, when you see someone, you can see that, but when you do it in the match, it just feels amazing. Yeah, like I don’t have words to describe. It’s just overwhelmed from the match, but what a fantastic effort.”

On asked if Pant understands players coming from smaller cities?), he said, “Definitely. One thing I made sure that, personally, sometimes the trust and, when you believe in someone as a player, as a captain, they have a trust of the management, a player can do wonders, having that trust, I think definitely plays a big role.”

Pant also praised Ayush Badoni, who scored a crucial knock of 54 runs off 34 balls to keep LSG in the contest. Badoni, who had two quiet games, scored seven fours and two sixes.

Pant concluded, “This is what, he’s been like now a senior pro in our team. That’s the kind of role we have given him, trusting him. First two matches, didn’t get away, but in a situation like this, bread and butter. When we talk about Badoni, these are the kind of situations what you want to see from Badoni, in these kind of situations. And he played an amazing role today.”

LSG will next take on the Gujarat Titans at Lucknow on Sunday.