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Mukul Choudhary stuns Kolkata Knight Riders to seal last-ball thriller for Lucknow Super Giants

Published

6 months ago

2026/04/10

Priyan

Mukul Choudhary celebrates victory after his stunning knock [BCCI]

In the lead-up to IPL 2026, Lucknow Super Giants coach Justin Langer believed that rookie <ukul Choudhary had the potential to become the “scariest” finisher in India. The 21-year-old showcased his potential and power in only his third IPL game, bashing a 25-ball half-century, which snatched victory for LSG from Kolkata Knight Riders’ grasp.

When Choudhary came into bat, LSG were 104 for 5 in the 13th over in pursuit of 182. Choudhary watched them slump further to 125 for 6 and then 128 for 7. He was on 2 off eight balls at one point. But with LSG needing 54 off 24 balls, he single-handedly won it for them. Only one other batter – Kieron Pollard in 2013 – has scored more than 50 runs in the last four overs of a successful IPL chase.

It was anybody’s game when LSG required 14 off the final over, with three wickets in hand. After Avesh Khan got a single off the first ball, Choudhary monstered Arora over square leg for six. Arora then responded with two dots, but a barely believable six off the next ball – a near wide yorker – brought the equation to one off one.

Choudhary swung and missed the slower bouncer, but he scampered across for a leg-bye and completed a stunning turnaround for LSG. A new star was born in the IPL.

At the halfway stage of the game, Rovman Powell said this wasn’t a typical Eden Gardens pitch. As the game wore on, the deliveries dug into the surface, especially the slower ones, were difficult to put away. Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant were all done in by steepling bounce.

Arora had bounced out Markram and Marsh with the new ball, but when he tried something similar against Choudhary with the older one, Choudhary muscled him over square leg. When Arora tried to york him next ball, Choudhary helicoptered the seamer over long-on. Of the seven sixes Choudhary hit in 27 balls, this was the pick of the lot. “MS Dhoni, eat your heart out! The helicopter shot is back,” Faf du Plessis said on commentary

But still KKR were favourites with 42 to defend off 18 balls. Until Choudhary intervened again. He tonked Kartik Tyagi for a brace of sixes and reduced the equation to 30 needed off 12 balls.

Cameron Green, who had earlier bested Pant with a slower bouncer, bowled that variation to Choudhary and drew a mis-hit, but it fell into no-man’s land. Choudhary missed another slower bouncer next ball, but struck back to hit Green for 6,4,6 in his next four balls.

Choudhary then whacked another slower short ball from Arora for six in the final over. Arora responded by switching his angle to around the wicket and nailed two wide yorkers. He marginally missed his mark the next ball, but Choudhary scythed it flat and hard over cover with his fast hands to stun KKR.

Earlier Ayush Badoni had laid the platform, from which Choudhary launched, for LSG with a contrasting 54. Coming in at No.4, Badoni helped LSG overcome an early wobble with his calculative approach. He was particularly circumspect against Sunil Narine, who had recovered from an illness that had put him out of KKR’s previous game, scoring only eight off ten balls from him. In all, Narine conceded just 13 runs in his four overs for the wicket of Mohammed Shami.

Badoni found runs from elsewhere. He took 26 off 12 balls from Tyagi and Navdeep Saini, the weaker links in the KKR attack. He brought up his half-century, off 33 balls, when he carted left-arm spinner Anukul Roy over midwicket for six. Next ball, however, Roy hid the ball away from Badoni’s reach and had him holing out to wide long-off.

Prince Yadav had struck in his first over when he had Finn Allen caught at deep third by Digvesh Rathi in controversial circumstances. After a few replays, Allen was given out for 9 off 8, but later another replay suggested that Rathi’s foot was touching the boundary when he was holding the ball with both hands.

KKR captain Ajikya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvansh, who was promoted to No.3 ahead of Green, then countered the early blow with an 84-run partnership off 52 balls. Rahane manufactured swinging room and pumped both Rathi and M Siddharth for fours over cover.

Raghuvanshi was slow to start: he was on 6 off 12 balls at one point, but shifted gears when he lined up Avesh Khan for 4,6,4 in the last over of the powerplay.

LSG’s spinners Rathi and Siddharth then loosened KKR’s grip on the game by taking out Rahane and Raghuvanshi in successive overs.

Green needed 14 balls to find the boundary and in all managed only three fours and a six in the 24 balls he faced. Rovman Powell, who retained his place in KKR’s XI, was more fluent, finishing with an unbeaten 39 off 24 balls.

KKR went 31 balls without a boundary until Powell charged at Siddharth and cracked him over his head for six. Then when Prince missed his yorker, his drilled drive down the ground left both the bowler and the umpire in the firing line.

KKR were firm favourites – they had an 86% chance of beating LSG after 36 overs in the game – but Choudhary flipped the script and overpowered the hosts.

Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 182 for 7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 15, Aiden Markram 22, Rishbah Pant 10, Ayush Badoni 54, Nicholas Pooran 13, Mukul Choudhary 54*; Anukul Roy 2-32, Vaibhav Arora 2-38, Sunil Narine 1-13, Kartik Tyagi 1-31, Cameron Green 1-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 181 for 4 in 20 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 45, Ajinkya Rahane 41, Cameron Green 32*, Rovman Powell 39*; Prince Yadav 1-47, Manimaran Siddharth 1-34, Digvesh Rathi 1-25, AveshKhan 1-44) by three wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura

Published

2 hours ago

2026/10/4

Priyan

The Hational Building Research Institute (NBRI) has issued landslide early warnings to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura valid from 2200 hrs on 03rd October upto 2200 hrs on 04th October 2026.

Accordingly,

LEVEL II (AMBER) landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Udu Dumbara and Minipe 8n the Kandy district, Dehiowita in the Kegalle district, and Ambanganga Korale and Matale in the Matale district.

LEVEL I (YELLOW) landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Rambukkana in the Kegalle district, Rattota in the Matale district, and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district.

Latest News

Turkish court detains football refereeing chief pending corruption trial

Published

18 hours ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

The refereeing scandal is the latest controversy to shake football in Turkiye [Aljazeera]

The head of Turkiye’s football refereeing body and four other officials have been placed in pretrial detention by a court as part of a corruption investigation, the state news agency Anadolu reports.

Ferhat Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee, and six others appeared before a judge over allegations of manipulation of the referee administration process, Anadolu said on Saturday.

They appeared on Friday before a judge at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse on several charges, including forgery of official documents, breach of trust and illegal acquisition of personal data, the report said.

The judge remanded five people in custody and granted the other two conditional release, Anadolu said.

It was the latest scandal to shake football in Turkiye, coming exactly a year after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting.

On Thursday night, police from the illegal betting and sports crime unit also detained Yasin Kol, a referee from Turkiye’s top-flight Super Lig, as well as an assistant referee, media reports said.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments as well as the exams on rules”.

During raids on Tuesday, police searched the VAR room at TFF’s headquarters in Istanbul. Observers said the investigation was likely linked to last year’s betting scandal and would have implications for the federation.

“It does seem to be a continuation of 2025, and it looks like it will continue further,” sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy told the AFP news agency.

Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book on the issue called The Gambling Pit, said it was unlikely that federation bosses “have any chance of staying in office”.

So far, the TFF has not directly addressed the arrests as its top officials are due to fly home on Saturday after attending Friday night’s Belgium-Turkiye UEFA Nations League clash in Liege, which Turkiye lost 3-0.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Ten injured after car crashes into rugby supporters in Australia

Published

18 hours ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

A fire truck drives towards a crash site as a police vehicle blocks a road in Wallsend, News South Wales, on October 3, 2026, after a car drove into a crowd [Aljazeera]

A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.

New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.

Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.

The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.

“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.

“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”

“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.

[Aljazeera]