Pat Cummins produced a ridiculous display of power-hitting, equalling the fastest IPL 50 in history to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to an overwhelming victory by five-wickets with four overs to spare against the Mumbai Indians in their IPL match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday.
Chasing a challenging 162 for victory, the match was apparently in the balance with KKR on 101 for five at the start of the 14th over but the Australian captain, playing his first game of the season following his country’s tour of Pakistan, smashed four fours and six sixes from just 15 balls to finish unbeaten on 56 as KKR cruised to 162-5.
His 14-ball half-century equalled that of KL Rahul.
Daniel Sams bore the brunt of fellow Aussie Cummins’s aggression, conceding an eye-watering 50 runs from just three overs while English T20 specialist, Tymal Mills, was belted for 38 from just three overs.
KKR captain Venkatesh Iyer was a largely static and mesmerised observer having opened the innings and finishing with a pedestrian 50 not out from 41 balls with six fours and one six.
Suryakumar Yadav had earlier left it late to help Mumbai to what seemed a competitive 161 for four with a dazzling 52 from 36 balls before Cummins had him caiught behind by ‘keeper Sam Billings.
Mumbai struggled to 55 for three after 11 overs but Surykumar and Tilak Varma added 83 for the fourth wicket to put the five-time champions back on course after losing their opening two games. They have now lost their first three.
Ishan Kish (14) miscued a pull shot to midwicket against Cummins. South African under-19 star Dewald Brevis struck a pair of fours and sixes before an attempted slog-sweep from outside off stump against leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy resulted in a smart stumping by Billings.
Kieron Pollard smashed the third ball of the final over from Cummins for a straight six and top-edged the fifth and six balls for further maximums to finish with a remarkable, unbeaten 22 from just five balls while Varma was left unbeaten on 38 from 27 deliveries with three fours and two sixes. Cummins’s final over cost 23 runs.
As costly as that may have seemed at the time, Cummins extraordinary performance with the bat laid to rest any doubt about KKR’s scintillating form and depth of talent for this year’s tournament.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Sam Billinga, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Rasikh Salam, Varun Chakravarthy.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Dewald Brevis, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi.