Pat Cummins has amazed everyone – not least himself – with one of the great whirlwind Indian Premier League knocks.
The Australia captain has been retained by Kolkata Knight Riders as their star overseas paceman – but in Pune on Wednesday, he morphed into a demon hitter who equalled the record for the fastest fifty ever seen in the IPL.
With a match-winning innings of astonishing clean hitting, Cummins, incredibly, smacked 34 off his own bat off just one seven-ball over from his compatriot Daniel Sams to win the match with four overs to spare.
“I think I’m probably the most surprised bloke here,” he laughed as he collected the man of the match prize and all the other IPL gongs – super striker of the match, game changer of the match, ‘Let’s crack it’ sixes award, and most valuable asset of the match.
In all, Cummins, playing his first match for KKR this season, smashed an unbeaten 56 off just 15 balls, with six sixes and four fours – at a strike rate of 373.33 – to power the Knight Riders to a five-wicket victory over shell-shocked Mumbai Indians.
He reached his fifty in just 14 balls, equalling the all-time record for fastest fifty in the IPL by Lokesh Rahul in 2018, and then cracked the next ball back over poor Sams’ head for six to win the match.
Sams was clobbered by Cummins for 6, 4, 6, 6, 2 (no-ball), 4, 6 in that one fateful last over which went for 35 runs in total.
Off the fifth ball, Cummins did get caught at long off off Sams’ waist-high beamer but he got a reprieve when it was ruled a high no-ball, which cost Mumbai three runs.
The Knight Riders had needed 35 from 30 balls and Cummins got them all in just that one over, with his final blow allowing them to breeze to their victory target on 5-162.
His heroics came after Cummins also did what he’s largely paid for – taking the two valuable wickets of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan when Mumbai batted and made 4-161.
It wasn’t just Sams who got the treatment from Cummins. He also smashed sixes off two formidable pacemen, Jasprit Bumrah and Tymal Mills.
“I think I’m probably at my best when I don’t think too much. I just swing hard and tonight it just came off. Don’t try to overthink it,” smiled Cummins.
He has hit a couple of IPL fifties before but he reckoned this one ranked as easily the number one. “That’s really satisfying, first game here, it means we’re now three wins from four,” he said.
“At Pune , the ball seems to fly here a bit, it’s got a short side so just I tried to attack the short side.”
The Australian captain reckons he’s bound to get some stick now from his teammates.
“I’m sure I’ll get some messages about my Test match batting where I can hardly get it off the square!” he laughed.
His KKR captain Shreyas Iyer was simply amazed by the ball-striking. “I was just watching the ball fly!” he said.
“I couldnt believe it the way he was striking the ball, especially because yesterday when I was watching him in the nets, he was getting bowled every now and then! An outstanding performance.”
Venkatesh Iyer made a less explosive 50 not out off 41 balls in Kolkata’s third win this season, which puts them top of the IPL table.
jameswm
Roar Guru
"You are one in particular that has led from the front re trying to shut down any commentary which unfairly questions Cummins". There, I fixed it for you. If you are suggesting no one on the Roar is death-riding Cummins, you have been hiding under a rock.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
This is the thing James. You are one in particular that has led from the front re trying to shut down any commentary which in any way questions Cummins. Why is that? It’s clearly not an objective stance that you have taken. You deride anyone that dares question Cummins. In fact, you just defended his performances in the white ball games in Pakistan. Well guess what, James. Cummins DID NOT play for Australia in the white ball ODI/T20 legs of Pakistan. So perhaps instead of being the leader of the pack re “Cummins death riders” populist remarks whenever his performances are challenged, actually get up to speed with where things are at, that you are commenting on. Played poorly in the white ball legs of the Pakistan tour? He didn’t even play those games!
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Don’t even know what that comment is referring to.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Riiiiight. The fact he is on a contract made him play poorly. Nice one.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
Yeah. Too old fashioned in my thinking about treasuring the honour of playing for your country.
jamesb
Roar Guru
As long as he shows aggression in tests and is successful, then at the end of the day, that’s all it counts. ODI’s and T/20’s only become important when it’s a world cup. ODI’s were important once upon a time, but with T/20 coming in over the 15 years, it has cannonbalised the older shorter format of the game. Watching ODI cricket is not the same as it was in the past. Heck, its not on FTA anymore.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Sams is an interesting cricketer. His bowling is not quite at the level to be a frontline international/IPL bowler and his batting is destructive, but not reliable enough to be a frontline batter. So at international/IPL level he is sort of a luxury pick if you have 4.5 other bowlers you can rely on. Needs to add an extra dimension to his bowling to step up from BBL level. Being at Mumbai is a great opportunity to see if he can do that. Tim David probably a victim of the 4 overseas player limit. Mumbai have had a poor start and I guess they wanted to give Dewald Brevis a go. You can't tell anything about a player from two innings and his 12 was a decentish death innings (off 8 balls). Given how much they spent on him, and his form coming into the IPL, I'm sure David will get another go soon.
Tony
Roar Guru
Boring
Jeff
Roar Rookie
You expect too much from CA centrally contracted players on a guaranteed salary.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Cummins didn’t display that aptitude to aggression for Australia in its ODI/T20 leg of the tour of Pakistan though.
Simon
Guest
Idk if we do, Cummins has a decent defensive game when in form and that's useful for the batsman who is already in. We also have Starc who can hit
Simon
Guest
Ever heard of Andrew McDonald
Rusty Brooks
Roar Rookie
I think you’re onto something here.
Damo
Guest
We all know he has it in him, we just want to see a bit more aggression with the bat in test matches.
Simoc
Guest
So Mumbai Indians took on Australians Tim David for $1.6m and Sams. David dropped after scores of 12 and one and Sams going for plenty and also not scoring runs in his two bats. Hope these guys come good for MI. Congrats to Cummins.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Oh you're just being nasty.
Kailash
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately it may be true.Do not know if Daniel Sams talked to Cummins after the match.sams looks like a good bloke.After hitting four 3 or 4 sizes he could have let him go considering sams is a fellow countryman.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Those were the awards Cummins won. There may have been even more. If not, we can create some to help them out: Supersonic Single, Most Diligent Twelfth Man, Electric Wicketkeeper, Most Astute Review, Nicest Smile.
Jo Park
Roar Rookie
Pat just ended Sams IPL career quicker than he ended Langer's ordinary coaching career. :cricket: :stoked:
Rusty Brooks
Roar Rookie
So in a single IPL game, there’s a ‘Man of the Match’, ‘Super Striker’, ‘Game Changer’, ‘Let’s Crack It’ and ‘Most Valuable Asset’. Sounds like the post game awards at a kid’s soccer match.