In a game that swung one way and the other, and in one that contained several slip-ups as well, one man stood up and provided quality. Mohsin Khan picked up the first five-for of IPL 2026 and for large parts seemed to have set his team, Lucknow Super Giants, for victory. But there was a Super Over. Some questionable decisions were made. And Kolkata Knight Riders won.

Speaking in between innings on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out Show, former T20 World Cup winner Carlos Brathwaite praised Mohsin for his simplicity of method. “We talked about enjoying fast bowlers being metronomic in length, being disciplined, be boring. He got a little bit of assistance and when he went short, he really hammered the pitch. Sometimes we can get bowlers just resting the ball on a good length trying to get a little bit of help but nah, he bashed away at the length.”

Mohsin started his day with a wicket maiden, picked up one more in his second over in the powerplay, struck with his first ball of the seventh over and had only one left for the rest of the innings. LSG preferred to keep front-loading him and he responded by providing them even more wickets, including that of Cameron Green for 34 off 21. When he wrapped up his spell of 4-1-23-5, KKR were 73 for 6.

“I liked when he came back for that 11th over, Pant game him the over and he came in knowing it was an attacking over, I need to get wickets and going all out. I think it was a double-wicket over and essentially ensured that there wouldn’t be any consolidation through that phase. So it was a little risky and I got it in my notes as good captaincy and then as the third six got hit, I had to put, or was it? [laughs] But I think he assessed the pitch well and he realised his role, his role is to come back and get wickets, he attacked and he attacked well. But he set it up by being real disciplined in the beginning.”

Mohsin made his IPL debut in 2022 and looked really sharp as a left-arm, high-pace bowler picking up 14 wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 5.96. But injuries have prevented him from building on that start. He missed last year’s IPL entirely.

“It’s been a long time and just its a matter of regaining that prime fitness,” former India batter and batting coach Sanjay Bangar said, “because he is one player with that particular skillset that we do not really have that much in quantity in terms of the Indian talent. We have plenty of batters but one thing that we lack is a left-arm variety” The T20 World Cup winning team included Arshdeep Singh as the only exponent.

“I believe if you look at the pack that we have, in terms of the left-arm seamers, he impresses the most because the extra bounce that he gets, the ability to hit that length and he’s got a heavy ball, that’s what they always say. So he’s got all the makings of a wonderful left-arm seamer and that is something the selectors should be keenly watching.”

LSG go into a break now and play their next game against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede stadium on May 4.