Pune: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) attain top-spot of Indian Premier League 2022 table defeating the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 5 wickets. Pat Cummins astonished all with his batting powers. He equaled the record of KL Rahul of fastest half-century in IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the target of 162 with four overs remaining, thanks to Cummins and Vekatesh Iyer.
Mumbai Indians started with two changes – Dewald Brevis and Suryakumar Yadav playing in the team. Umesh Yadav kept the pace of his last match with the new ball. Yadav found early success and dismissed MI skipper Rohit Sharma. Dewald Brevis began his innings with two fours and a six as MI were 35-1 at the end of powerplay. Chakaravarthy got Brevis stumpped. Pat Cummins dismissed Ishan Kishan with a miscued pull shot caught inside the circle.
A fifty partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma came for the fourth wicket. Both Suryakumar and Varma creamed a boundary in the penultimate over. Suryakumar got caught behind at 52. MI finished their innings in style, following 3 sixes from Keiron Pollard that guided MI to 161-4.
Chasing the targe, Kolkata Knight Riders lost Ajinkya Rahane at an early fifth over. Tymal Mills took him. Kolkata Knight Riders lost skipper Shreyas Iyer on the final delivery of the powerplay to Daniel Sams. Kolkata Knight Riders were 35-2. Sam Billings boosted the scoring rate with two sixes against Murugan Ashwin and Basil Thampi.
Venkatesh Iyer hit his first maximum of the innings but KKR lost Billings and Nitish Rana in a short frequency to Murugan Ashwin. Tymal Mills was back with the ball to scalp the crucial wicket of Andre Russell. Pat Cummins entered in style, a six followed by a four against Mills.Venkatesh Iyer completed his half-century while Cummins smashed another out of the fence. The required came down to 7.00 with 5 overs remaining. Pat Cummins turned the momentum within a over. His striking abilities ended up scoring him the joint fastest half-century in the IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders hammered 35 runs off the 16th over. Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the total with four overs to spare as Cummins thumpped four sixes and 2 fours against Daniel Sams.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 162-5 (Pat Cummins 56*, Venkatesh Iyer 50*; Murugan Ashwin 2-25) beat Mumbai Indians 161-4 (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Tilak Varma 38; Pat Cummins 2-49) by 5 wickets.
