Pat knocks hard, MI can’t Cummins!

KKR’s Pat Cummins en route his unbeaten 56 against MI at Pune’s MCA Stadium on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

It was around 20 minutes of madness at the MCA Stadium here on Wednesday, as Pat Cummins went absolute berserk to score a record-equaling fastest 50 (off just 14 balls) in the IPL as Kolkata Knight Riders comfortably beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets with 24 balls to spare. The knock surprised opposition skipper Rohit Sharma, Cummins's own skipper Shreyas Iyer, the 18,000-odd crowd and Cummins himself. It was some clean ball-striking of high quality from the Australian and given his proven cricket intelligence, there definitely was a method to the madness.

"I probably think I'm most surprised by that innings. I'm glad that it came off. I was thinking of having a swing as if it was in my area, wasn't trying to over-think," Cummins said after the match. Apart from not over-thinking, Cummins also kept his plans simple and workable. "I was just trying to pepper the shorter boundary," said Cummins, who finished unbeaten on 56 off just 15 balls, smacking six sixes and four fours en route.

Kolkata Knight Riders opener Venkatesh Iyer during his unbeaten 50. Pic/PTI

As Daniel Sams bowled the 16th over of the KKR innings, with the Iyer-led unit needing 35 runs off 30 balls for win, the shorter boundary was on the leg side. Cummins went - six over long on, four between long on and deep mid-wicket, six over deep mid-wicket, six over fine-leg, caught off a no-ball called for height and a straight six over the bowler.

Shorter boundary advantage

So, considering Cummins was aiming for the shorter boundary, he hit four of those shots went exactly where he wanted to. Consequently, the game was over with KKR still having four overs to spare. However, while Cummins deserves all credit for his clean hitting, it is pertinent to note that the execution from the Mumbai Indians' bowlers was far from satisfactory. "We probably could have held on to the hard lengths against Cummins rather than bowling those extra change-ups. The short boundaries are on the leg side, so it was quite easy for Pat to hit a few slog sweeps," Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene said after his team's third straight defeat.

‘MI unable to close games'

Jayawardene also pointed out that the Rohit Sharma-led outfit hasn't been able to close off games, after being in it for a large part. "We are playing some good cricket, but it's just that we are not closing games off. All three games, we were in it, but we were not able to finish it off. We have not been ruthless enough," said the Sri Lankan. MI skipper Rohit admitted the defeat will be a tough to digest. "Whenever you have runs on the board, you always have the upper hand. We had them five down, it was just a matter of the wicket of Venky or Pat. This will be hard to digest, the way it turned out in the last few overs," Rohit said at the post-match presentation.

Rana fined 10%, Bums reprimanded

Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Nitish Rana has been reprimanded and fined 10 per cent of his match fees for a Level 1 offence during their match against Mumbai Indians. MI pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been let off with a reprimand for breaching the code of conduct during the same game, which KKR won by five wickets on Wednesday. The IPL press release, doesn't specify the breach.