Pat Cummins hammered a 15-ball 56 not out at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Wednesday night to power Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to an unlikely win by 5 wickets and 4 overs to spare against Mumbai Indians (MI), in the Match No 14 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 tournament.
After Mumbai Indians were bolstered with a half-century from their comeback batsman Suryakumar Yadav who scored a fluent 52 in his first match this season to take his team’s total to 161/4 in their 20 overs, Cummins powered Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a 5-wicket win helping them score 162/5 in their 16 overs.
The Australian Test captain, fresh from a Test series win in Pakistan in their first tour in 24 years, continued to make memories that will last forever for him, his fans and those who support the KKR franchise as he recorded the fastest half-century for any batsman in this IPL and the joint-fastest in the history of the tournament.
Cummins hammered 6 sixes and 4 boundaries to score 56 not out from only 15 balls, shutting Mumbai Indians out of a contest which they were expected to win having dominated Kolkata Knight Riders well into the second half of the match.
The Australian cricketer arrived at the crease when Andre Russell, who was the hero of KKR’s win in their last match, was dismissed for cheap and the team needed another 61 runs to win from 40 balls. Cummins began with a six and a four off Tymal Mills in the 14th over and got similar returns off Mumbai pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
The right-handed Cummins then hammered a mind-boggling 4 sixes and 2 fours in the 16th over of the innings delivered by Daniel Sams, finishing the game in the company of Venkatesh Iyer, who remained unbeaten on 50 from 41 balls.
Earlier in their innings, KKR did not have an easy time in the middle with the bat as none of their specialist batsmen, barring Venkatesh, could take the attack to the opposition. KKR captain Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for 10, wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings fell for 17, Nitish Rana made 8 and Andre Russell scored 11.
KKR were struggling at 101/5 into the 14th over of the chase until Cummins arrived and turned the tables on Mumbai Indians, who lost their third game in the tournament on the trot.
In the first innings, there were plenty of starts for Mumbai Indians but none could trouble the scorers much, owing to the heat and tough batting conditions. But Suryakumar continued to fight for his side, scoring 52 from 36 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
For Mumbai Indians, Ishan Kishan scored 14, the young South African batsman Dewald Brevis made 29, Tilak Varma scored an important 38 from 27 balls and Kieron Pollard made a 5-ball 22 with 3 sixes.