MS Dhoni would have also been proud to see young Mukul Choudhary play a match-winning role in the Lucknow Super Giants versus the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2026 match at the legendary Eden Gardens on Thursday.
The 21-year old Rajasthan batter who is a known admirer of Dhoni demonstrated nerves of steel as he led his team to the win with an unbeaten 54 runs on only 27 balls. Choudhary, like his role model, timed his innings to the latter, scoring his game deep, then exerting his finishing skills in the death overs. His knock was not only visible through the runs, but also the maturity and game knowledge he showed when it mattered.
The climax of the innings was the 17 th over, where Mukul Choudhary played the legendary helicopter shot, which was popularized by Dhoni, and hit Vaibhav Arora so hard in the stands. The event aroused the interest of both fans and commentators.
Former South African captain Faf du Plessis, who was on commentary, could not hold back his emotions and said, MS Dhoni, eat your heart out. The helicopter shot is back.
The innings of Choudhary consisted of 2 boundaries and a spectacular 7 sixes, and half of his 54 runs were in the form of boundaries. His loud, but calm knock came in handy as he seemed to do all the work by himself bringing Lucknow to triumph, although Avesh Khan was involved in the supporting role.