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Making a spectacular return to the Indian Premier League (IPL), Pat Cummins hit an unbeaten 56 off 15 balls, which is the joint-fastest 50 off 14 balls. The whirlwind knock helped Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) seal a five-wicket win over five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 6.
Chasing 162 runs and with five wickets down, Cummins needed just one big over to seal the win, and this came against Daniel Sams, who the right-arm pacer hit for 35 runs in one over to seal the deal for the Kolkata-based franchise.
Speaking to the broadcasters Star Sports after the match, former India head coach Ravi Shastri jokingly commented that Cummins had “spoiled a really good game of cricket”.
"It's like someone walking past him should tell him 'Well played Pat. Thanks for spoiling a really good game of cricket.' He spoiled a very good game of cricket," Shastri said.
"It was unreal. 35 runs in an over. You have to start thinking when did you see a match like this where the other team had the upper hand to an extent and then it goes to maybe 60-40 for Mumbai Indians. Come the next over, it's over. It's been a long time since I've seen a match like this and I have seen a lot of cricket," he said about KKR's chase.
The former India player also heaped praise on opener Venkatesh Iyer, who carried the bat for KKR and anchored the innings with maturity. Venkatesh summed the pitch nicely and this caught the attention of Shastri. "He spoke beautifully, Venkatesh Iyer. What he said was absolutely right. It was tough for everyone else," the 59-year-old added.
"Look at this striking. He came out on a mission. He went for 49 runs in his four overs so he's saying I'm going to get those runs and more to finish off this match. And my word he's smacked it all around the ground. And there's hardly any mishits in that innings," Shastri went on to say about Cummins' blockbuster innings.
In the bowling department, Cummins took two wickets, including that of the in-form Ishan Kishan and then Suryakumar Yadav, as MI were restricted to 161/4.
