Considered one of the world’s finest fast bowlers, Pat Cummins said he was more surprised than anyone else after equaling his IPL record-fastest fifty in Kolkata Knight Riders’ five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians here on Wednesday. .
Cummins, like KL Rahul, completed his half-century in just 14 balls, helping KKR chase down MI’s total of 161 runs with four overs to spare.
“I probably think I’m most surprised by that innings. I’m glad it turned out. I was wondering if it was a swing in my zone. Wasn’t trying to finish it,” Cummins said at the press presentation ceremony after the match.
The Aussie said, “To be doing that in my first game this season is very satisfying. Just trying to hit short boundaries. The hard part after the big auction is that there have been a lot of changes compared to last year. There’s a good mix of talent there and it’s quite relaxing with the boys.”
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This was incredible stuff as KKR, needing 35 off 30 balls, got all of them in just six balls, with the Australian Test captain hitting six sixes and four fours in his 15-ball 56, helping his captain Along with Shreyas Iyer, the rival captain also survived. Rohit Sharma was shocked.
“Extraordinary! The way he (Cummins) was hitting the ball, I couldn’t believe it. Because yesterday in the nets, he was bowling now and then, I was batting next to him in the nets,” Iyer said.
Venkatesh Iyer scored an unbeaten 50 off 41 balls while batting in KKR’s innings.
“During the end of time, the plan was for Venky to drop the anchor and ask Pat to swing on everything as he was doing the same thing before. When I went out to bat, I told him to hit the ball. Just do it because he was hitting the ball a little over.
“We have to take responsibility as top-order batsmen. We all have the ability to hit the ball for a long time. In the powerplay, the pitch was pretty much the same in both the innings. After the powerplay, I think it became very easy,” Iyer said.
Read also | IPL 2022: Pat Cummins hits joint-fastest fifty as KKR hand MI, their third loss
Experienced Kieron Pollard complemented Suryakumar Yadav’s quick half-century with 23 runs in the final over to propel MI forward when KKR kept things tight for a large part of their innings.
After an 83-run fourth-wicket stand between Suryakumar Yadav (52) and Tilak Verma (38 not out), Pollard (22 not out) hit Cummins with three sixes to end MI’s innings on a high. Ultimately proved too little. for KKR
Rohit said Cummins’ attack would be difficult to digest.
“Never expected him to come and play like this! The credit goes to him for the way he played. We didn’t start well with the bat. Trying to score more than 160 runs in the last four overs was superb…
“We had the game till the 15th over, but the way Cummins played… we thought we could take him. But it will be difficult to digest – as it turned out in the last few overs. We need to work very hard,” said Rohit.
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