Picture Credit: IPL
Australia's Test captain Pat Cummins had just returned from his international duties and had become eligible to play for Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday. While the management would have thought that he would be a key asset to add in the bowling arsenal along with being a handy option with the bat lower down the order, Cummins was in fine form with the bat which too looks a bit of an understatement.
On a wicket on which some of the fine hitters of the cricket ball seemed to struggle, Cummins scored the joint-fastest half-century in IPL history, reaching the landmark in just 14 balls. Earlier, KL Rahul had also scored 50 off those many balls while opening for Punjab Kings. What made Cummins knock special was that it came in a tricky run chase.
Have a look at his innings here:
Cummins' extraordinary innings comprises of 6 sixes and 4 fours and while he had also picked 2 wickets with the ball, at the end of the match, Cummins bagged all the awards for his batting heroics which included hitting strokes off Jasprit Bumrah and helping Kolkata Knight Riders score 35 runs off one over when they needed those many runs to win in five overs.
Thanks to his innings, the Men in Purple won the game with four overs to spare.
"I am more surprised [with that innings]! It just came off. I was not trying to overthink. That's really satisfying," Cummins said at the post-match presentation.
"The ball seems to fly here... So just hitting in the shorter side. I am sure it sends a message...! We were lucky to keep the core of the squad like last year. Happy with how it came out [with the ball]. Overall pretty happy," he added.
Having said that MI won't be happy for sure as they have now lost three matches in a row.