Marvel all you may at any of Mukul Choudhary's seven sixes, but it was not the savagery that made it all so breathtaking. It was the silence, between deliveries and overs, between each shot he devised and delivered. An unbreachable halo of calm in the way he stood and moved, unbroken by the situation, the circumstance, or the fact that this was just his third IPL match.

Mukul is 21; he'll learn a lot about the game as he goes up. He hits 100-150 sixes a day; more of that will refine his bat-speed, timing, and everything else that comes in between. But he has sorted out something in his mind already. Just like everyone else, he feels pressure but is learning to "distract from it". He knows pressure won't go away but there are ways, and there are days, when it can be overridden by self-belief and skill.

At 104/5, 78 needed in seven overs, Lucknow needed a sane head. Across the next 12 balls, Mukul faced one delivery, watched Ayush Badoni walk back and Mohammed Shami walk in. None of the others to follow had crossed 20 in their T20 careers.

"When Ayush bhai got out, I knew whatever had to be done, only I have to do it. I wanted to take the game close, wasn't thinking about winning or losing".

Mukul faced 25 of the next 30 balls. Two overs in a row, he took a single off the fifth ball, giving Avesh Khan a ball to survive. He didn't do it in the 19th over. Cam Green pitched the last ball short and slow, and Mukul seized it, smacking it for a six over mid-wicket. Reduce the margin first, then take strike. Simple, clear thinking.

Mukul confesses to overthinking his batting, up until the eve of the game. In the team bus on the way to the stadium, Rishabh Pant told him not to try "this and that" in his batting, but to just hit it the way he sees it. And that he did.

For the first few balls though, Mukul looked a bit out-of-depth. He wasn't reading Sunil Narine and got stifled by Vaibhav Arora. But he stayed calm. At 6 off 9, and 50 needed off 21, he had the presence to premeditate another yorker. Two steps to the side, and an arrogant flick off the wrists. A helicopter, delivered to the long-on fence. He would later dedicate the knock to MS Dhoni.

Then came Kartik Tyagi, rolling his fingers over the ball, hoping for the pitch to do the rest. But Mukul's bat speed met it with such force that an agricultural swat carried it over cover. Mukul, clearly, has his own way of hitting sixes.

When Cam Green returned to deliver the crucial 19th over, Mukul would have been expecting more of those slow bouncers. He top-edged the first one but survived. The next one missed his pull and hit him on the back.

He asked for a change of gloves immediately. The pressure must have made the boy sweat, but what followed next didn't really confirm the theory. In ice-cool fashion akin to a seasoned finisher, he directed the next ball to the long-leg fence. And then, he didn't take a single off the last ball, but clobbered it leg-side, the sweet crunch of the six screeching through the cheers of the opposition crowd.

But Mukul looked unfazed, before that six and after. Between deliveries, he would walk to the side of the crease, crouch to his knees, take a moment, and get back. He later said it was to take deep breaths and blank out all the extra thoughts. Avesh Khan had things to say. Mukul heard some and refused some, showing his hand and staying put in his solitude when the input was too much. A closer look at him revealed the mini-acts that kept him focused: taking a few steps aside, adjusting the gap between his grip, crouching for a few breaths, tapping each glove, and then entering the cynosure again. At times, he would pause again to calculate the number of fielders, pointing and numbering them in his head.

It's this ability to detach and attach to a moment, filling the gap between balls with a little moment to himself, that stood out in the frenzy of a bungling chase. He looked calm, he faltered and mis-hit but stayed assured. He sweated to the point of changing gloves but stayed till the end to do the job. That temperament sticks out in a young cricketer.

And yes, he's got amazing wrists and bat-speed.

Those two combined to deliver the sucker punch, a ridiculous hit over covers, down on one knee, swatted with his wrists. The cleared front leg came back in place after the ball was flying away, balancing his tilting frame. Mukul stood up, went to his spot on the side, and did a little tap on his chest and a glove-raise to the skies.

About half an hour after he was on the pitch, hands folded to the Almighty with the winning run, Mukul made his way to the press-conference room. He calmly adjusted the mic and let out a big sigh. Another deep breath, no pressure this time. He had already done so many interviews that day, this one must feel like just another.

Mukul didn't mind the spotlight, much like he hadn't in the middle. He called it an opportunity to make a name and identity for himself. His name roughly translates to "blossoming" and what he grows into will be worth watching.