Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer was surprised after Pat Cummins played a blistering knock of 56 runs off just 15 balls against Mumbai Indians at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday to help his team win by five wickets.
Iyer revealed that Cummins was batting beside him in the nets before the game and he was getting bowled every now and then. However, Cummins turned the corner when it mattered the most as he played an unbelievable knock to get his team over the line.
Cummins was able to hit the ground running from the get-go and tore MI’s bowling as he scored four fours and six sixes in his blistering knock.
In fact, Cummins also took the attack against Jasprit Bumrah and smashed him for a massive six. The Australian finished the game in the 16th over as he took Danil Sams for 35 runs in the over. Thus, he scored the joint-fastest fifty in IPL history, getting there in only 14 balls and matching KL Rahul’s record.
Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer, who both scored fifties for their respective teams on the same pitch felt that the pitch was sticky and it was not easy to score runs at a brisk pace. However, it looked like Pat Cummins was batting on a completely different pitch as he struck the ball cleanly to help his team chase down the total of 162 with ease in the end.
Shreyas Iyer said in the post-match presentation, “Extraordinary! I couldn’t believe the way he (Cummins) was hitting the ball. Because yesterday in the nets, he was getting bowled now and then, I was batting in the nets beside him then. During the timeout, the plan was for Venky to drop anchor and tell Pat to just swing at everything because that’s what he was doing before too. When I went into bat, I told him to just time the ball because he was overhitting the ball a bit. We have to take responsibility as top order batters. All of us have the ability to hit the ball long. In the powerplay both innings, the pitch was quite the same. After the powerplay, it got a lot easier I guess.”
Cummins was able to score a fine knock and his addition has definitely added more strength to KKR’s playing XI. But, the gun fast bowler was taken for 49 runs in his quota of four overs as he leaked 23 runs in his last over.
KKR will next face Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
