PUNE: Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday chased down 162 in just 16 overs to hand Mumbai Indians their third defeat in a row in the Indian Premier League 2022.
Kolkata won the toss and opted to field first. Their bowlers justified the decision as Umesh Yadav once again struck early with the new ball and dismissed Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma. Ishan Kishan was also squeezed as eked out just 14 runs off 21 balls. At one stage, Mumbai were tottering at 55-3 in 11 overs.
Mumbai’s innings was propped up by Suryakumar Yadav and the youngster Tilak Varma who joined forces to add 83 runs in just 8 overs. Suryakumar scored 52 off 36 balls, while Varma remained unbeaten at 38.
Kieron Pollard unfurled three sixes in the last over to catapult Mumbai to 161-4 in 20 overs.
Kolkata’s top-order also faltered with only Venkatesh Iyer holding the one end resolutely. Captain Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings produced a couple of cracking shots but were soon perished.
When Andre Russell got out, Kolkata were 101-5 in 13.1 overs and needed 61 runs in 7 overs.
However, Pat Cummins unleashed an absolute mayhem by blasting 56 runs off just 15 balls and finished the match in 16 overs. He equalled KL Rahul’s record of scoring the fastest fifty (14 balls) in the history of the IPL.
In the 16th over, he slaughtered left-arm medium-pacer Daniel Sams by smashing him for four sixes and 2 boundaries. Sams gave away 35 runs in one over which is among the most expensive overs ever in the T20s.
Kolkata is now at the top of the Points Table having won 3 out of their 4 matches.