‘It was fun’ – Pat Cummins on his record-breaking IPL fifty against Mumbai Indians

The MCA Stadium in Pune witnessed the Pat Cummins carnage that no one saw coming. Mumbai Indians were absolutely blown away after having tried so hard to stay in the game or perhaps to be ahead in the game defending 161. But Cummins unbeaten 56 off just 15 deliveries undid all their hard work as KKR won in just 16 overs.

While Cummins recorded the joint-fastest fifty in the history of IPL, he also smacked a massive 35 runs off Daniel Sams in the 16th over of the innings to finish the game. Venkatesh Iyer was out there in the middle witnessing the magical knock at the other end. After the game, he asked his teammate the secret about his hitting and Cummins was generous enough to credit the batters upfront who did the hard work to get the team to that position. However, he also stated that his aim was just to hit the ball for a six if it was in his slot.

“I don’t know. I think you guys did the hard work upfront. I was just trying to hit sixes clearly. If it’s in my area, I will just go for it and if it’s not, maybe just try and take a single. When I am batting at the end of the game, it’s not seaming or swinging so it’s a bit easier for me. It was good fun,” Cummins said.

KKR had just lost Andre Russell in the 14th over and the game was clearly tilting towards MI despite Venkatesh Iyer fighting it out in the middle. It was a tough ask for Cummins to come out and play his shots having spent the last three days in quarantine and then at home prior to that post the Pakistan Test series.

Speaking of the same, the Aussie Test captain was just thinking of playing his shots and taking some pressure off Iyer. “Venkatesh Iyer was batting well . When I went in, I felt like if I try and get a couple away and make his job a bit easy at the other end. Yeah! I targetted the short boundary specifically trying to get across and make them bowl outside off. All I was trying to do was try to hit every ball for either four or a six,” Cummins said when asked about his plan.



However, things were not as cozy at the start for KKR to chase. They lost wickets at regular intervals and Venkatesh Iyer was struggling to time the ball as well. But the left-hander dug deep in the innings and slowly found his groove. Well, in return he was awarded the best seat in the house to witness a special knock which he describes as ‘some unbelievable hitting.’

“Felt really good. Honestly, barring you (Cummins) everyone felt the wicket was a little bit tricky to bat on. But that was some unbelievable display of hitting from you. But it was very important for me to stay there till the end and play that anchor role. I was not hitting the middle of the bat exactly. So I spoke to myself just to stay there till the end,” Venkatesh Iyer said.