‘I will open; I am ready to open the innings.’
Mukul Choudhary had said the above-mentioned line when Nikhil Doru, the Rajasthan batting coach, asked him whether he could open the batting for the state in the 2025-2026 Ranji Trophy. Mukul’s ideal batting position is somewhere lower down the order. However, Rajasthan needed a spare opener and the coaching staff was finding it tough to get one.
“Among the 25 probables for the camp, Mukul’s name was there. They had selected only two openers,” Doru told Revsportz. “I asked the selectors, ‘How can we have just two openers for the Ranji Trophy? We need at least four’. The management said, ‘Prepare somebody’. I went to the established players, asked them, ‘Can any of you open’? All of them refused. I thought to myself, ‘I have no other option but to ask a young player’.
“I asked Mukul, ‘Can you open this season? We will back you completely’. He said, ‘I will open’. He has the mindset to accept any challenge. Just like what he had said in the interview, ‘I look at opportunities’. Here also he saw that, (and in an imaginary sense said to himself), ‘If I get a chance to play Ranji Trophy, then why should I refuse to open’?”
This backstory serves as the essence of Mukul’s game-breaking knock against Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing IPL. In a chase of 182, LSG were struggling at 127 for 6. Mukul didn’t just prop up the innings with a volley of shots but also cracked a six off an attempted wide yorker in the final over to more or less seal the deal.
Doru has this to say about watching his ward essay a game-changing knock. “I was watching it with my friends. My friends were saying, ‘This match can’t be won’. But I said, ‘LSG will win’. So, they asked, ‘Why are you saying that in this situation, LSG will win the match’? I replied, ‘Mukul is batting, he will win it’.
“We have seen him before, the situation was exactly the same in the game against Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. We needed about 50 in 3 overs. In the last over, we required 25 to win and he hit four sixes; hit six off the last ball. So I knew, if he played, he would win it. That is exactly what happened. Seven were needed off three balls. I told my friends, ‘He will hit a six this ball’ and he smashed a six.”
Despite Mukul’s six-hitting prowess, at the start of the season, very few would have envisioned him hogging the limelight in the glitzy world of IPL. At some point of time in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy, he was even left out of the squad. But the wicketkeeper-bat didn’t give up.
“In our two-month camp, I worked on his stroke play, how to leave deliveries outside off, how to play swing and seam, how to read the wicket, in match simulations also he opened,” Doru noted. “His favourite shot is the sweep, I worked on his sweep/slog sweep. Worked on his game to hit down the ground.
“He was eventually selected for the Ranji Trophy, played against Chhattisgarh and scored 44 (45). He played at number six in that game. He faced 150 or 160 balls in that innings. Then we played Jammu and Kashmir, we played on a greentop. They had Auqib Nabi and all. He got out for four and zero, the match ended in two days. Then he got dropped from the Ranji Trophy team, Mukul went on to play in Under-23s, scored 700 runs, highest run-getter,” he added.
The destiny was about to smile on Mukul in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he cracked a couple of game-changing knocks. At that moment, a few IPL scouts would have jotted down notes on his power-hitting.
“The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy started. Initially, the selectors didn’t give him chances. In the fourth game, Karthik Sharma got injured, that is when we again said, ‘Let Mukul come here’. They agreed to our request, in the first match itself, he won it against Delhi,” he observed, “The scouts were all watching. Then we went to the Super League, we played against Mumbai. It was the same day on which there was the auction, and he played an extraordinary innings. He smashed Tushar Deshpande, the fast bowler. His story is such that he played in the Ranji, got dropped, played in Under-23s, scored a lot of runs there.
“When he played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he did very well in the limited opportunities that he got. Vikram Solanki was also there, GT’s director of cricket. I sent him a message on Mukul that he is (could be) a good choice, and does wicketkeeping as well. Solanki has also played for Rajasthan. At CSK, I have a friend, sent him a message that he could be a good choice. In the auction, LSG took him, he has become a big name now. But at the start of the season, no one would have thought of him playing in the IPL. Not even Mukul; now he has become the star of India.”
Doru also excavated more information on Mukul’s game. “The sweep is his strength, as soon as he came into the IPL, he hit a boundary. He has the belief. He also plays that helicopter shot,” he pointed out. “Mukul works on his hitting skills, he is well-built. He has more belief in hitting sixes than taking singles (smiles).
“He got inspired by (MS) Dhoni to play the helicopter shot. Technically as well, he plays over side-on, his body doesn’t open up, so he has to take the risk and play the helicopter. Looking at it, the bowlers in the future might try to bowl at his body or hip. But he will play the helicopter shot, it is his strength. He understands the match situation really well and plays according to the team’s needs.”
Doru also shared insights on the hardships faced by Mukul and his family. “He is from Jhunjhunu, even before his birth, his father (Dilip Kumar Choudhary) wanted him to become a cricketer. His father, from what I have heard, even sold his house, struggled a lot. Then he went to Sikhar, he practises in Jaipur. His father even went to jail, but whatever he did was for Mukul,” he said.
The one nugget to take from Mukul’s tale is that there is no expiry date for realising your goals. Meanwhile, Mukul will chisel out the hard road once again and try to replicate his heroics in LSG’s upcoming games.
