PunePat Cummins displayed an amazing display of aggressive batting with a record unbeaten 56 off 15 balls as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets with 24 balls to spare in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday. secured the top position.
KKR were struggling with the top order batsmen getting dismissed at regular intervals but Cummins changed the whole equation as soon as he arrived. He hit four fours and six sixes in his innings and equaled KL Rahul’s previous record in the IPL by completing a half-century in just 14 balls. He scored 35 runs in an over from Daniel Sams, which is the third most expensive over of IPL.
Apart from Cummins, opener Venkatesh Iyer (50 off 41 balls, six fours, one six) scored a half-century as KKR chased down the target of 162 runs in 16 overs for the loss of five wickets. This is the third win for KKR in four matches. Batting first after losing the toss, Mumbai made a challenging total of 161 for four after recovering from a poor start. He suffered a third consecutive defeat.
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Mumbai’s score was 83 for three after 15 overs. Suryakumar Yadav (52 off 36 balls, five fours, two sixes) and Tilak Verma (38 not out off 27 balls, three fours, two sixes) shared an 83-run stand for the fourth wicket. Mumbai added 78 runs in the last five overs, including an unbeaten 22 off five balls by Kieron Pollard. He hit three sixes in the last over of KKR’s most successful bowler Cummins (2 for 49).
Cummins later reciprocated this with Sams in whose one over he hit two fours and four sixes. Including the winning six. Earlier, however, the KKR batsmen lost their wickets while trying to play long shots. KKR lost the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane (7) and captain Shreyas Iyer (10) inside the powerplay. Both these batsmen were dismissed on short pitch balls by Tymal Mills (2 for 38) and Sams (1 for 50) respectively. After the first six overs, KKR’s score was 35 for two.
When the run-rate was slowing down, Billings set the score board in motion with a six off Basil Thampi off Murugan Ashwin (2 for 25). Although Ashwin soon retaliated against him, but before this, Venkatesh had hit his first six on this leg-spinner. KKR could only manage 67 runs for three wickets after 10 overs.
Nitish Rana (eight) opened his account by hitting Mills for a six in the third man area, but was soon caught at midwicket off Ashwin. Now Andre Russell (11) was at the crease who sent Ashwin’s googly for six runs, but Mills quickly stopped his storm. Mins slammed Mills, Jasprit Bumrah and Sams for sixes, making KKR fans forget about Russell’s dismissal. Meanwhile, Venkatesh, who kept the wicket at the other end, completed his half-century in 41 balls.
Earlier, KKR put pressure on Mumbai from the start by bowling tightly under the leadership of Umesh Yadav (1 for 25). Mumbai scored only seven runs in the first three overs and in the meantime lost the wicket of captain Rohit Sharma who could only manage three runs in 12 balls. Umesh’s short pitch ball took the upper edge of his bat and was waved in the air.
South Africa’s Dewald Brevis (29 off 19 balls) showed why he is called junior ‘AB’ with his first shot in the IPL. His confidence was evident from the sixes he hit on Cummins and Varun Chakraborty. However, he could not convert his stormy start into a big innings and was stumped trying to play a sweep shot on Chakraborty.
Mumbai’s score was 54 for two after the first 10 overs. Ishan Kishan (14 off 21 balls) was at the crease but struggled to score runs while Suryakumar, who returned from injury, took time to adjust. Kishan gave an easy catch off Cummins’s ball, which increased Mumbai’s troubles. The ball did not reach the boundary line for five overs in the middle. Suryakumar spoiled Umesh’s bowling analysis by hitting fours and sixes in the last two balls. He completed his fifty in 34 balls.
When Tilak was on three, Rahane had dropped his catch, which he celebrated by displaying his prowess of playing long shots. Whether it was Cummins or Chakraborty, his sixes were strong. In the end, after the dismissal of Suryakumar, Pollard did the right thing. (Agency)