Kolkata Knight Riders registered a comprehensive win over Mumbai Indians (MI) as the Knights defeated the most successful team in the IPL by five wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, thanks to the all-round efforts of Pat Cummins who smashed the joint-fastest half-century in the IPL
MI lose three games in a row
Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first. Umesh Yadav continued his good form with the new ball as he removed Rohit Sharma in the powerplay. Mumbai had a troublesome first 10 overs as they failed to score runs quickly and lost three wickets. KKR pacers made full use of the lively pitch in Pune.
However, Suryakumar Yadav, who was making a return from an injury came to his side’s rescue. SKY along with young Tilak Verma stitched an 83-run stand in quick succession to get Mumbai back in the game. Kieron Pollard provided the finishing touch as the West Indian power-hitter hit 22 off just 5 balls.
Australian captain Pat Cummins, who was playing his first match of the tournament was having an impressive outing until the 20th over where Pollard smashed 22 runs. MI posted 161 runs on the scoreboard as they finished the innings on a high.
KKR’s chase had a shaky start as they lost two wickets in the powerplay. The game was evenly poised till the 13th over when Andre Russell was dismissed. V Iyer was holding the innings from one end as the left-hander scored his first fifty of the season.
However, the game-changer of the match was Pat Cummins who showcased an unbelievable display of power-hitting. Coming in to bat in the 14th over, the Australian test skipper brought up his fifty in just 14 balls as he finished the match with 4 overs to spare. He also smashed 35 runs in Daniel Sams over to take KKR over the line. Pat equaled KL Rahul’s record of fastest fifty in the IPL and he was also rightly adjudged the Player of the Match.
