Pat Cummins, on Wednesday, played one of the most entertaining knocks in IPL history to blow away Mumbai Indians (MI) at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. Cummins scored the joint-fastest fifty in IPL history, off 14 balls, to seal the game for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as they have also moved to the top of the points table. The third straight defeat is an alarming sign for the 5-time champions who have a history of being slow-starters but with the introduction of two news teams, they can’t afford to lose many matches at an early stage of the season.
Here are the talking points from Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians Clash.
Umesh Yadav’s White-ball Audition to Rohit Sharma
The senior KKR pacer has been in sensational form this season and is also leading the race in Purple Cap with 9 scalps in four matches. Yadav has rejuvenated his white-ball career with the ongoing season of IPL and people are suddenly suggesting BCCI to consider him for the upcoming T20 World Cup. It was the first audition for Yadav in front of India’s new skipper Rohit Sharma this season and he passed it with flying colours. The Vidarbha pacer set up Rohit’s wicket by troubling him on disciplined good and full-length delivery and when the Hitman looked to break the shackles he attacked him with the short ball. Rohit failed to check his shot at the last moment and got caught after failing to execute his favourite pull shot.
IPL 2022 – FULL COVERAGE | SCHEDULE | RESULTS | ORANGE CAPE | PURPLE CAP | POINTS TABLE
SKY Returns With A Bang
Suryakumar Yadav returns to competitive cricket after recovering from the injury. The stylish batter straightaway announced his arrival in IPL 2022 with an impressive half-century. He scored 52 runs off 36 balls as his innings was laced with 2 sixes and 5 fours. The Mumbaikar looked confident with his batting approach and stabilized the innings in the middle-over alongside young Tilak Verma with an 83-run stand. With the arrival of Suryakumar, Mumbai’s batting looked more balanced than it was first two matches.
Kieron Pollard is Not Finished
The Windies’ power-hitter on Wednesday silenced his critics who felt that Pollard is not the same batter this year after he failed to guide his team to a win against Rajasthan Royals. The Caribbean all-rounder faced just five balls against KKR but they were more impactful in that innings. He smashed premium pacer Pat Cummins for 21 runs in the final over to take his team to a fighting total. Cummins didn’t bowl bad deliveries but it was the sheer power of Pollard that the edges also flew to sixes.
KKR Batters Struggle Against Short Balls
The opposition teams have found a chink in the armour of the KKR batting line-up. Three of KKR’s top batters – Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell became the victims of short balls against Mumbai Indians pacers. The trio failed to execute the pull shot properly and lost their wickets at crucial stages of the game. It was the second time in the tournament where KKR bowlers struggled against the short balls as earlier against RCB – Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana became victims of the same trick. The KKR management needs to sort the issue out early before it’s too late for them in the tournament.
Also Read | IPL 2022: Pat Cummins Smashes Joint-Fastest Fifty as KKR Hand MI Their 3rd Loss
Cummins Storm Blew Away Mumbai
The Australian Test captain, who recently led his team to a Test series win over Pakistan, doesn’t take much time to switch from red-ball cricket to white-ball. Cummins, the batsman, was too good for Mumbai Indians pace trinity – Tymal Mills, Jasprit Bumrah and Daniel Sams. He smashed all of them all over the park to hit the joint-fastest fifty in IPL history -14 balls. Cummins collected 35 runs from Sams’ over to seal the game for KKR with 4 overs to spare. It was more like Cummins was compensating for leaking 21 runs in the final over of Mumbai Indians’ innings but in the quest to do so he created history by equalling KL Rahul’s record of joint-fastest IPL fifty.
Get all the latest updates on Cricket News, Cricket Photos, Cricket Videos, IPL 2022 Live Updates and Cricket Scores here