Cummins hammers Knight riders to victory over Mumbai with joint-fastest IPL fifty
Pat Cummins smashed 56 runs off 15 balls for his Kolkata Knight Rider side in today’s Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians to take his team to victory.
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 wickets with four overs to spare against the Mumbai Indians.
Pat Cummins’ brilliant knock secured the victory for the Knight Riders.
The Australian Test captain finished with 56 off mere 15 balls.
This is Cummins’ first match this season. With his four fours and six sixes, he equalled the record of the fastest IPL fifty in just 14 balls.
He now shares the record with KL Rahul, who had scored fifty off 14 balls against Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2018.
Losing skipper Rohit Sharma was full of praise for Cummins' sensational batting and said he never expected him to play a knock like that.
Rohit Sharma said, "Never expected him to come and play like that! Lot of credit to him for the way he played. With the bat we didn't start well. Over the last four overs, to get 160-plus was a great effort... We had the game until the 15th over, but the way Cummins played... We thought we could have them. But this will be hard to digest - the way it turned out to be in the last few overs. There is a lot of hard work we need to put in."
Cummins joined Venkatesh Iyer at the crease after the dismissal of Andre Russell and showed he meant business straightaway, clubbing Tymal Mills for a six and four off only the second and third deliveries he faced.
"For everyone other than Put the pitch looked very tricky. Got to give it to Pat for that on a pitch which was actually tricky to bat on. There'll be days when you'll not be hitting the ball as well as you want... With the batting line-up that we have with some big-hitters coming, I could play the anchor role..." said Venkatesh Iyer.
Walking into the 16th over, having already scored 22, Cummins started with a cracking maximum.
A full toss off the second ball saw Cummins target the midwicket boundary.
He hit two more sixes before Sams' waist-high delivery was adjudged a no-ball. The 28-year-old then bludgeoned a slower ball - the free hit - for four to bring up his fifty.
Cummins, who was named Player of the Match, later said: "I am more surprised (with that innings)! I was not trying to overthink. That's really satisfying. The ball seems to fly here... So just hitting in the shorter side. We were lucky to keep the core of the squad like last year. Overall pretty happy."
Kolkata Knight riders are currently leading the IPL table.
Tomorrow the Lucknow Super Giants will face the Delhi Capitals in Mumbai. (Sportstar)
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