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]