KKR’s Cummins steals thunder, smashes 56 in 15 balls

Pune, April 6: Pat Cummins stole thunder from Mumbai Indians with his swashbuckling 56 not out off 15 balls to help Kolkata Knight Riders register their third win in the IPL match at MCA Stadium on Wednesday. With this win, Kolkata is placed at the top with 6 points and Mumbai in ninth position in the points table. Cummins was amazing in his batting as Mumbai did not imagine that the Australian would come out all guns blazing, burying their hopes by the snap of fingers. He cracked 4 boundaries and 6 sixes in 15 balls and equaled the 14-ball fifty that was smashed by KL Rahul featuring for Kings XI Punjab against Delhi Capitals at Mohali in 2018. And this bludgeoning comes with surprise as the Australian all-rounder has a liking for Mumbai bowlers. In the last three innings against them, he scored 33 in 12 balls, 53 not out in 36 and 56 not out in 15. Mumbai smelt victory after they had the feared Andre Russell (11 off 5 balls) who fell to Tymal Mills’ short ball. But they didn’t have the idea what Cummins was up to. He walked with a swag into the field and did not spare even world’s leading pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah as he slapped, pulled, swept and ploughed his side home. Venkatesh Iyer (50 not out off 41), though he was not in his fluent best, somehow dropped anchor, watched Cummins’ aggression as a mute spectator at the other end. After the team crossed over the line, Russell celebrated an unforgetable run-chase with special dancing moves dedicated to Cummins. Chasing 162 runs target, Venkatesh and Sam Billings (17) came to an end in the 10th over as Murugan Ashwin removed the Australian. Kolkata had lost opener Ajinkya Rahane (7) in the 5th over as Mills sent the right-handed batter back to the hut, ending the 16-run opening partnership. In the very next over, Daniel Sams dismissed Kolkata skipper Shreyas Iyer (10) and Mumbai gained an upper hand in the contest. Nitish Rana’s wicket was plucked by Sams after he scored 8. However, Sams became the third most expensive bowler in IPL by conceding 35 runs behind P Parameshwaran and Harshal Patel who gave away 37 runs each. Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma’s 83-run partnership and the last-over blast of Kieron Pollard propelled Mumbai to a competitive score of 161/4. Pollard pulverized Cummins in the final over of the innings, garnering 23 runs by smashing three sixes. He remained unbeaten with a quickfire 23 off just five balls. Kolkata bowlers led by seasoned campaigner Umesh Yadav completely dominated the powerplay as the runs were not easy to come by for Mumbai. Put into bat, Mumbai kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and it was due to Suryakumar (52 off 36 balls) and Tilak’s unbeaten 38 off 27 balls that they could post a score of more than run-a-ball. Kolkata bowlers were too good early on as they made it difficult for Mumbai top-order batters to find runs. Rohit Sharma (3) fell early to Umesh, and his companion Rasikh Salam hardly gave anything away in the first two overs. Dewald Brevis walked in and showcased why he is called ‘Baby AB’ before he was sent back to the hut by Varun Chakravarthy in the eighth over. He dazzled spectators, reminding them of AB de Villiers’ style of cricket as he smashed 29 off 19 balls. Soon after Ishan Kishan (14 off 21) was removed by Cummins, who is playing his first match of the season in place of Tim Southee. (UNI)