Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Pat Cummins’ 15-ball 56 helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to win their third game of the 2022 IPL against the Mumbai Indians. The five-time champions managed to score 161 in the first innings, thanks to Suryakumar Yadav’s fifty with crucial performances by Tilak Varma and Kieron Pollard. In the second innings, Kolkata was struggling until Pat Cummins launched a blitzkrieg to end MI’s hopes to win their first match.
Changes in the Points table
After the fourteenth match of the 2022 IPL, the Kolkata Knight Riders are on the top of the table with six points from four games with a net run rate of +1.102. Whereas the Mumbai Indians are ninth on the table with three straight defeats and a net run rate of -1.362. KKR will take on Delhi Capitals on 10 April while MI will face Royal Challengers Bangalore on 9 April.
Today’s Matchup
The Lucknow Super Giants will face the Delhi Capitals at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. LSG defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs. Whereas DC lost to the Gujarat Titans by 14 runs.
What did the captains say?
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer was extremely happy with their victory and Cummins’ performance. He said, “Extraordinary! I couldn't believe the way he (Cummins) was hitting the ball. Because yesterday in the nets, he was getting bowled now and then, I was batting in the nets beside him then. During the timeout, the plan was for Venky to drop anchor and tell Pat to just swing at everything because that's what he was doing before too.”
“When I went in to bat, I told him to just time the ball because he was overhitting the ball a bit. We have to take responsibility as top-order batters. All of us have the ability to hit the ball long. In the powerplay both innings, the pitch was quite the same. After the powerplay, it got a lot easier I guess”, Iyer added.
MI captain Rohit Sharma was shocked by Pat Cummins’ performance in the match. He said, “Never expected him to come and play like that [on Cummins]. Lot of credit. The pitch got better and better to bat as the game went on. It was holding up initially. Overall it was a good pitch. With the bat, we did not start well, in the last 4-5 overs to get 70+ was a great effort from the batting unit. We did not bowl according to the plan.”
“We had the game till the 15th over, but then Cummins was brilliant. Whenever you have runs on the board, we always have the upper hand, We had them 5-down, it was just a matter of the wicket of Venky or Pat, they had Sunil who could smash them. This will be hard to digest, the way it turned out in the last few overs. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. I don't want to be in this position all the time [frustrated smile on being pointed out that MI have been in this position before at the start of an IPL season]”, he concluded.