Lucknow Super Giants may have slipped to a Super Over defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, yet Mohsin Khan’s 5 for 23 – the first five-for of IPL 2026 – ensured the left-armer left Eden Gardens with his reputation enhanced and national selectors interested.
The match ebbed and flowed. LSG front-loaded Mohsin, and the 25-year-old delivered a wicket-maiden to start, struck again in his next over and removed Cameron Green with the first ball of the seventh. By the time his four-over spell read 4-1-23-5, KKR were 73 for 6 and apparently listing, only for later errors and a tense Super Over to swing the points Kolkata’s way.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show, former West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite highlighted the virtues of a method that looked anything but complicated. “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,” Brathwaite said.
Brathwaite also enjoyed Mohsin’s return for the 11th over, when captain Rishabh Pant searched for wickets rather than containment. “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.”
For India’s selectors the performance was timely. Mohsin impressed in his debut IPL season back in 2022 – 14 wickets at 5.96 – but a run of injuries stalled progress and ruled him out of the 2025 tournament. Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels the skill-set is scarce domestically. “It’s been a long time and just its a matter of regaining that prime fitness,” 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.”
Bangar believes Mohsin sits at the front of the current left-arm queue. “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.”
For now, Mohsin and LSG have a week to reflect. Their next fixture is away to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on 6 May – another chance for the pacer to stay in the conversation, and perhaps, to move a step closer to an India recall.
