Picture : Twitter / IPL
After suffering two losses , Mumbai Indians wanted to get their campaign in Tata IPL 2022 on track . But Kolkata Knight Riders had other pans as they roared home by five wickets and four overs to spare in their encounter at Pune.
SKKR skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and fielded first And his bowlers did not let them down they were able to restrict the powerful Mumbai Indians side strengthened by the return of Surya Kumar Yadav. But Mumbai found the going tough . Skipper Rohit Sharma fell early for 3. Ishan Kishan too struggled for his 14 ball 21. Dewald Brevis scored 29 . Back after injury, Suryakumar Yadav made his presence felt with a fine 36 ball 52 with five fours and two sixes, Tilak Varma , young talent scored a quick unbeaten 37 ( 27 balls , 3 fours , 2 sixes) . Keiron Pollard gave the perfect finish with a blazing 5 ball unbeaten 22 ( 3 sixes) . Mumbai Indians finishing at 161/ 4 in their 20 overs.
For KKR , the Bowling figures were : Pat Cummins 2/ 49 ( 4 overs) playing his first match replacing Kiwi Tim Southee. Umesh Yadav 1/ 25 ( 4 overs) , Varun Chakaravarthy 1/ 32 ( 4 overs) , Sunil Narine 0/ 26 ( 4 overs) , Rasikh Salam 0/ 18 ( 3 overs) , Andre Russell 0/ 9 ( 1 over)
In reply KKR ,Lost Ajinkya Rahane early for 7 . Skipper Shreyas Iyer ( 10), Sam Billings ( 17) , Nitish Rana ( 8), Andre Russell ( 11) . When Russell fell at a total of 101/ 5 in 13.1 overs, Mumbai one thought had match in their grip. What followed was absolutely sensational . Playing his first match, Australia Test Skipper Pat Cummins unleashed a blazing innings that stunned or for the matter shocked Mumbai Indians .
The Aussie right- hander gave a fantastic display of clean power hitting and unbeaten 15 ball 56 ( 4 fours, 6 sixes) . Cummins reached fifty in mere 14 balls. . The Mumbai Indian bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Daniel Sams, had simply no answer to Cummins’ power . Venkatesh Iyer batted well to remain unbeaten on 50 off 41 balls ( 6 fours , 1 six) , But Iyer was just a spectator as Cummins tore apart the Mumbai attack .
It was unbelievable stuff from Cummins as KKR, needing 35 from 30 balls, got them all in just six deliveries with Cummins hitting six sixes and four boundaries to entertain the Pune crowd. Daniel Sams bore the brunt of Cummins’ onslaught the most, conceding 35 runs in the 16th over.
Together with Iyer, Cummins, who came in at No 6, shared 61 runs in just 18 balls to overhaul MI’s total of 161 for four with four overs remaining . KKR finishing at 162/5 in 16 overs.
Such was the Cummins onslaught it left Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma speechless and forced him to admit that he never expected Cummins to play an innings like that . He lauded his innings though.
Mumbai will have to rethink their plans after third straight loss . Mumbai bowling figures were : Basil Thampi 0/ 15 ( 3 overs) , Daniel Sams 1/ 50 ( 3 overs) , Jasprit Bumrah 0/ 26 ( 3 overs) , Tymal Mills 2/ 38 ( 3 overs) , Murugan Ashwin 2/ 25 ( 3 overs) , Tilak Varma 0/ 6 ( 1 over)
The KKR win delighted co- owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan who tweeted ,
@patcummins30 I want to dance like Andre & hug u like the whole team did. Wow well done @KKRiders
and what else is there to say!!!…’PAT’ DIYE CHAKKE!!!
@patcummins30 I want to dance like Andre & hug u like the whole team did. Wow well done @KKRiders and what else is there to say!!!…’PAT’ DIYE CHAKKE!!!
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) April 6, 2022
