IPL 2022 KKR vs MI: Pat Cummins' 14-ball 50 helps Kolkata crush Mumbai

Pat Cummins finished the game in a hurry as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) handed Mumbai Indians their third straight defeat in IPL 2022 at MCA Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. Cummins went on to score the joint-fastest fifty in the Indian Premier League. In IPL 2018, KL Rahul scored fifty in 14 balls and this time Cummins did the same.

Chasing a competitive 162-run target on a sticky wicket, KKR were off to a slow start. Sam Billings and Venkatesh Iyer steadied Kolkata's innings after early blows. Billings went back to the pavilion in the 10th over with just 67 runs on the board. Nitish Rana and Andre Russell got dismissed in a search of big runs while Venkatesh kept his wicket intact from one end.

Pat Cummins's promotion ahead of Sunil Narine may have come as a surprise to many but the Australian justified his promotion up the order as he went hammer & tongs from ball one. Cummins first thrashed Tymal Mills and then took Bumrah to the cleaners. Daniel Sams was the next target as Cummins smashed his national teammate all round the park, scoring 35 runs in the 16th over. Thus winning the game for KKR by 5 wickets with 24 balls to spare.

Earlier, Mumbai were off to a poor start after being sent into bat. They lost captain Rohit Sharma in the third over and scored only 35 runs in the powerplay.

After a slow start, debutant Dewald Brevis, known as 'Baby AB', injected some firepower before getting dismissed for 29 runs off 19 balls.

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar tried to rebuild the innings but the former got out in order to accelerate. Suryakumar, then, stitched an 83-run stand with N Tilak Verma which put Mumbai Indians' innings back on track.

Surya scored a half-century on his return before Kieron Pollard went hammer & tongs in the last over and smashed Pat Cummins for three sixes. KKR conceded 75 runs in the last 5 overs as they managed to score 161-4 in 20 Overs.