Making Sense Of What Did Pat Cummins Do Against Mumbai Indians

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2022 – Tactical Review

It was an extraordinary night of cricket where Pat Cummins just came and smacked the joint-fastest fifty in IPL and won the match for Kolkata Knight Riders in the span of three overs before Mumbai Indians could even make sense of what just happened. 

Let's start from the beginning where KKR brought in Pat Cummins in place of in-form Tim Southee and Rasikh Salem in place of Shivam Mavi. MI also made two changes, bringing in Suryakumar Yadav and Dewald Brevis. 

Kolkata won the toss and opted to field. 

1) Yet Another KKR Bowling Show 

As usual Umesh Yadav began the proceedings for KKR, bowling tight wicket-to-wicket line on test match lengths, exploiting whatever movement was on offer. Rohit Sharma, in reply, tried to disrupt his line and length by coming down the track but Umesh didn't get distracted. 

Rasikh Salem came in second over and also moved the ball both ways to keep both Ishan Kishan and Rohit quiet. Umesh reaped the reward for his consistency and got Rohit out in the 3rd over. For the first three overs, no boundary was hit. Umesh completed three overs inside the powerplay. 

Young IPL debutant Dewald Brevis walked in at number three and impressed immediately with his intent. Brevis helped MI score 35 in the powerplay. After below-par powerplay, MI had to face Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy. Brevis tried to take on Varun and even hit him for a six but got out in the same over. 

After consistent pressure in the first 10 overs, where Mumbai had scored just 54/2, Pat Cummins came in the 11th over and Ishan tried to move on after another one run over but got out. Varun bowled yet another economical over in the 12th over and MI score read 58/3. 

2) Rahane's Costly Drop And Its Aftermath 

Umesh Yadav came in the 13th over and almost got Tilak Verma out. Ajinkya Rahane dropped a sitter that saw Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak getting a move on and finished that over with a four and six. 

Tilak and Suryakumar added 83 runs in 49 balls to get Mumbai close to the 150-run mark. In the last over, Kieron Pollard came and smacked 22 in five balls to take MI to 161/4. 

3) Mumbai Start Well 

The defense for a below-par total began well as MI got Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer out inside the powerplay. KKR only scored 35 in the first six. Daniel Sams and Basil Thampi finished their two overs each inside the powerplay. 

Venkatesh Iyer dropped anchor while Sam Billings tried to take charge. The duo added 32 in 23 balls. Leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin got Billings out and in his next over, Nitish Rana. 

4) Bumrah, Russell Attack Russell 

Andre Russell walked in at 11.5. Till Then Jasprit Bumrah had only bowled one over. He was immediately brought back. Russell and Iyer showed intent, scoring 12 runs in the Bumrah over. Tymal Mills came in the 14th over and Russell tried to slog him but got out on the first ball with KKR scoring reading 115/5. 

5) Rohit Sharma Misreads Pat Cummins 

As soon as Russell got out, MI's next target was to get Iyer out and only read Cummins as a support batter. Instead of bringing on Murugan Ashwin - a favorable matchup to Cummins but not-so-favorable to Iyer. 

Pat Cummins vs Pace - SR 155.93, Avg - 21.23. Cummins vs leg-spin - SR 57.14, Avg 6.66

Cummins smacked a four and a six to finish Mills' 14th over. Bumrah's 15th over went for 12 runs as Cummins attacked him as well. 

Rohit Sharma still didn't realise Cummins was the aggressor among the two and brought Daniel Sams in the 16th over. Cummins finished the game in that over making 35 runs. During the bashing, Cummins also reached his fifty in 14 balls - joint fastest in IPL. KKR won the match with four overs to spare.