IPL 2022, MI vs KKR, Match Highlights: Pat Cummins cracker blasts out Mumbai Indians

Pat Cummins stole Suryakumar Yadav’s thunder to give Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) a five-wicket win against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. MI skipper Rohit Sharma must be wondering what went wrong after staying on course for their first victory in this IPL till a better part of the match. The skipper had his plan ready to stop KKR dangerman Andre Russell and MI managed to get the West Indian out cheaply too. But very few had thought of Cummins to come out in flying colours with the bat in his first match in this IPL season. The Australian Test skipper displayed amazing power-hitting to bring up the joint-quickest 50 of the IPL, off just 14 balls. He hit four sixes, two fours and a two to collect 35 runs off the 16th over bowled by Daniel Sams to take the side home with 24 balls remaining. Lokesh Rahul had also taken 14 balls for his fifty for Punjab against Delhi in Mohali on April 8, 2018.

Opener Ventakesh Iyer played a good supporting role, staying unbeaten on 50 off 41 balls. However, KKR looked down the barrel at one stage as MI bowlers struck at regular intervals till Cummins decided to take control of matters. KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer’s faith in his bowling unit came to the fore when he went against the trend of batting first at the MCA Stadium. In both the previous two ties at this venue, the side putting up a score had won. In the end he was able to change the statistics too. The KKR bowlers began well, making things difficult for the MI batters initially till Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma played out an 83-run fourth-wicket stand to get the side to a fighting 161/4.

MI, who had huffed and puffed to 54 for two in the first 10 overs, collected 76 runs in