Captain Rohit Sharma Agarwal of the Mumbai Indians admitted they did not score enough to defend against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. Rohit credited Cummins, saying it was the KKR all-rounder who dented their hopes as he didn’t expect the Australian star to play in such an innings.
Cummins tied the record for the fastest 50 ever in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday. He joined KL Rahul and reached the milestone in just 14 balls in a match against the Mumbai Indians at DY Patil Stadium in Pune.
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Cummins scored 35 off fellow countryman Daniel Sams’ bowling in the 16th over, to take Kolkata across the line with four overs left. The Australian Test captain finished with 56 from just 15 balls, hammering four fours and six sixes.
“Never expected he would come and play like this [on Cummins]† Lots of credit. As the game went on, the field got better and better for hitting. It held up initially. Overall it was a good pitch,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation.
“We didn’t start well with the bat, in the last 4-5 overs to get to 70+ was a great effort by the batting unit. We didn’t bowl according to plan. We had the game over until the 15th, but then Cummins was brilliant.
“When you have runs on the board, we always have the upper hand. We had them 5-down, it was just a matter of Venky or Pat’s wicket, they had Sunil to beat them.
Venkatesh Iyer kept the ship steady and in the end it was Cummins who played his first game and scored the joint fastest fifty in the IPL of 14 balls and took the game away from MI in just one over. The Mumbai Indians’ horror run continued on Sunday as the five-time champions collapsed to their third consecutive defeat.
“This will be hard to digest, as it has shown 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]’ Rohit signed off.
Previously, Suryakumar Yadav’s fine fifty, Tilak Verma’s solid 38-run knockout, Dewald Brevis’ impressive IPL debut and Kieron Pollard’s last over-cameo helped the Mumbai Indians at 161 for 4 after being asked to hit first by Kolkata Knight Riders.
Kolkata Knight Riders stormed to victory by 5 wickets vs Mumbai Indians at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. They have now replaced Rajasthan Royals as the No. 1 in the IPL 2022 points table.