Talent scouting ! – strategizing the last over !! - a few decades ago, in a limited overs match at Marina ground (30 overs a side - Hindu Trophy) – with 11 required off the last over (a very tough task those days!); someone shouted ____ to bowl – Captain in a confused mind, handed over the ball to that not so regular bowler and was thrashed the required runs in the 5th ball !!
These days, especially in IPL with so many brains strategizing every team – almost everything is planned, schemed, rehearsed and still at the final stroke there are brain-fades. Was not able to immediately understand Ravi Shastri calling an Umpire – Man from Texas !! – yesterday there were so many web searches about Jhunjhunu !
Jhunjhunu is a city and municipal council in the state of Rajasthan. It is the biggest city of the Shekhawati region. Shekhawati derives its name from Maha Rao Shekha, a prominent Kachwaha Rajput chieftain who founded the region in the 15th century. The name is derived from the combination of "Shekha" (the name of the founder) and "wati," meaning "garden".
IPL is very
entertaining providing many nail baiting thrillers with results decided in the
last delivery !! yesterday match between
KKR & LSG was another.
The score read 128 for 7, the target was 182, - there was an young batter, whom I had not heard of – he had Avesh Khan and potentially two more bowlers left as partners. Mukul Choudhary a wicket keeper batsman from Jhunjhunu – could not read Sunil Narine - three misses in four balls meant Choudhary had scored just two off six deliveries. The jumbotron in the stadium flashed "54 needed off 24".
Web searches revealed that he had impressive U23 level and had scored well in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025-26 at a strike rate of 198.85, following which he was picked by Lucknow Super Giants at the IPL 2026 auction for INR 2.60 crore. In a match against Delhi, he hit 62* off just 26 balls with seven sixes for Rajasthan taking his side home in a chase of 176.
Mukul made some lusty hits of Green and every other bowler and farmed the strike literally not allowing Avesh to bat at all. Still it was anybody's game when LSG required 14 off the final over, with three wickets in hand. Avesh Khan got a single off the first ball, perhaps some loose fielding strategy by Ajinkya Rahane. Mukul monstered Vaibhav Arora over square leg for six. Arora responded with two dots, then with 7 required off 2 – a classic great shot for six over deep cover leveled the scores. The final delivery, Mukul moved, swung, missed – Avesh was already sprinting, Angrish Raghuvanshi with gloves could hit the stumps. A run – LSG had won and another new hero Mukul Choudhary was born !
In the last five overs, Mukul his seven sixers – each one an improvement than the previous. Choudhary finished unbeaten on 54 off 27 and LSG completed a win that had all but slipped away from them. In that unbroken 54-run partnership with Avesh Khan, Avesh faced just 3 balls and took that all important single off the first ball of 20th over and the final bye !! LSG scouts can take reasonable pride in finding such a player and grabbing him for INR 2.6 crore.
Just a day earlier, in the 14th match at Delhi – it was brain fade. GT made 210 and DC made a great chase. In over no. 19, Mohammad Siraj leaked 23 and 13 were required off the last. Gill tasked Prasidh Krishna to bowl the final over. He had leaked 41 in earlier 3. Vipraj Nigam was on strike – 1st ball was swung clean for a 4 but got out in the 2nd. DC now needed nine off four, Kuldeep deflected the first ball he faced for a single, bringing David Miller on strike. Then a length delivery was clobbered long long way by Miller. Now just 2 required off 2 !!! Miller hit the ball long but inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. Prasidh bowled a slower one, Miller swiped and missed, Butler collecting could hit the stumps and Kuldeep was run out. If that single had been taken – scores would have tied and Kuldeep would have been free to swing the bat in whatever manner !! – poor thinking by Miller – a brain fade.
Recall that 1999 Cricket World Cup semi-final, Allan Donald involved in an infamous run-out against Australia. That day at Edgbaston, South Africa needed nine to win in the last over. Lance Klusener, was on strike against Damien Fleming. Klusener picked up boundaries off the first two balls of the over, the scores were now level but in the event of a tie, Australia would go through to the final on account of their higher finish in the Super Six. Steve Waugh brought the field in. Klusener hit the third ball of the over to Darren Lehmann but stayed put, while Donald set off. He survived as Lehmann’s direct hit missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Klusener hit the next ball to mid-on and set off. This time Donald did not run. Mark Waugh picked up the ball, but his throw missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Fleming gathered the ball and rolled it along the ground towards Adam Gilchrist. It beat Donald, who had finally started to run but had lost his bat in the process, by a considerable margin. Australia qualified. That earned SA the chokers tag !!
Remember that
historic Tied test at Chepauk in Sept 1986.
Despite scoring a mammoth 574/7 dec in the first innings, thanks to a double hundred by Dean Jones and
centuries by David Boon and skipper Allan Border, Australia was on the brink of
defeat in a contest where there was no love lost between the sides. India
conceded a 177-run lead at the end of the first innings, with captain Kapil Dev
contributing with a hundred. Set a target of 348 in the final innings, India
looked to be cruising at the midway point with the top order providing
excellent support to veteran opener Sunil Gavaskar. After Gavaskar fell, with the score at 204, the visitor clawed its
way back, sweeping through the lower order. At one point of time India needed to score 40
with 5 wickets in hand. Then wickets fell in a heap – when last man
Maninder Singh came to bat – India needed 4 to win. Ravi Shastri took two of the first ball, then
one off the second. Was he right in exposing Maninder and not
closing the match by himself would remain a moot debate. Maninder had to score a solitary run !! he had 3 balls, with all fielders getting
closer – he was adjudged LBW to Graig Matthews and it was a historic tie.
Years later, Ravi Shastri in a show, talking to Sunil Gavaskar said it was a well-thought decision, Maninder had actually played the ball but the Umpire had lifted his finger so swift as if he was ‘the man from Texas’ - referring a Western film starring James Craig as Tobias Simms, a notorious outlaw (often called "the El Paso Kid") who attempts to abandon his criminal life to live peacefully with his wife, Zee. But while the match made many a career, it ended that of Indian umpire V. Vikramraju, who had given Maninder out leg before.
Mukul does not look big and very powerful but, but, read his comment : "My body is a little powerful, and that has come to me naturally," he said of his six-hitting ability. "I also practise hitting 100-150 sixes every day, so the bat speed develops if you keep doing it. I have been practicing a lot for the last five to six months, so it has come into my game."
Well done
… .. when it comes to the moment, not all brains remain agile.
10.4.2026
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