Pat Cummins and Venkatesh Iyer played an important part in Kolkata Knight Riders’ massive victory over Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022.
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Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Mumbai Indians in their fourth league game against Mumbai Indians to register their 3rd victory of the season. It was a Pat Cummins show at the MCA Stadium in Pune, where he tonked the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers all over the park.
Cummins, who was playing his first game of the IPL 2022 had a forgettable outing with the ball. He took a couple of wickets, but he conceded 49 runs in his four overs. Kieron Pollard smashes 23 runs off his last over to lead Mumbai Indians to a respectable total. Although, Cummins went all guns blazing in his batting.
When Cummins went on to bat, KKR needed 61 runs in the last 41 balls. KKR smashed 61 runs in just 17 balls, thanks to a blinder from Cummins. Pat Cummins scored 56* runs in just 15 balls to finish the game in just 16 overs. He scored his fifty in just 14 balls, to equal the record of the joint-fastest IPL half-century.
Pat Cummins hails “superstar” Venkatesh Iyer
Pat Cummins stole all the limelight of the game due to obvious reasons, but Venkatesh Iyer also scored a half-century for the KKR side. Venkatesh Iyer, who came on to open the innings, was unbeaten till the end, where he scored 50 runs in 41 balls. The wickets kept tumbling at one end, but Venkatesh was solid at the other.
Pat Cummins called Venkatesh Iyer a superstar in his Twitter post. “This guy is a superstar,” Cummins tweeted.
This guy is a superstar @venkateshiyer 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wUwOoHNOgl
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) April 7, 2022
The fortunes of Venkatesh Iyer changed in the 2nd leg of IPL 2021, where he was asked to open the innings. Iyer scored 370 runs at an average of 41.11, courtesy of four half-centuries. He was then fast-tracked to the Indian team, and he is still regularly picked for the T20I squad.
Ahead of the IPL 2022 auction, Kolkata Knight Riders retained Venkatesh Iyer, along with Andre Russel, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy.