Cummins carnage! Pat whacks 14-ball fifty as KKR hand MI their 3rd loss

Premier pacer Pat Cummins shone with the bat like never before, equalling the record for the fastest fifty in the IPL, including amassing 35 in an over, as Kolkata Knight Riders crushed Mumbai Indians by five wickets here on Wednesday.

Cummins blazed away to his fifty in just 14 balls, joining KL Rahul on the top of the leaderboard, while opener Venkatesh Iyer batted through the innings for his unbeaten 41-ball 50, as KKR completed a chase of 162 with as many as four overs to spare. It was unbelievable stuff from Cummins as KKR, needing 35 from 30 balls, got them all in just six deliveries with the Australian Test captain hitting six sixes and four boundaries in his 15-ball 56.

Daniel Sams bore the brunt of Cummins’ onslaught the most, conceding 35 runs in the 16th over, which sealed it for KKR. Together with Iyer, Cummins, who came in at number six, shared 61 runs in just 2.1 overs to overhaul MI’s total of 161 for four. MI, thus, slumped to their third defeat in as many matches.

While Iyer stood firm at one end, wickets kept tumbling from the other as Nitish Rana failed once again, caught at deep midwicket by Sams off Ashwin.

Andre Russell played a fiveball 11-run knock before he left Iyer stranded, top-edging a Tymal Mills short delivery to Dewald Brevis.

Cummins then took the attack to the opposition and struck Mills for a boundary and a six of consecutive balls. Having conceded 23 runs in the final over when MI batted, Cummins clobbered the MI bowlers to all parts of the ground to take KKR home in a grand fashion.

Earlier, veteran Kieron Pollard complemented Suryakumar Yadav’s brisk half-century by amassing 23 runs in the last over to propel MI after KKR kept things tight for a major part of their innings.

After an 83-run fourthwicket stand between Suryakumar Yadav (52) and Tilak Varma (38 not out), Pollard (22 not out) smashed the world’s premier fast bowler Pat Cummins for three sixes to end MI’s innings on a high. — Agencies