IPL 2022, MI vs KKR, Top Performances: Cummins' 56*(15), Venkatesh's 50* give KKR 8th win over MI

IPL 2022, MI vs KKR, Top Performances: Pat Cummins' 56*(15), Venkatesh Iyer's 50*(41) and Suryakumar Yadav's 52 (36) are the three top performance from MI vs KKR game.

Pat Cummins gets player of the match for his 56*(15) against Mumbai Indians (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Brief Scores: KKR 162/5 (Cummins 56*, Venkatesh 50*, Murugan 2-25) beat MI 161/4 (Suryakumar 52, Varma 38*, Cummins 2-49) by 5 wickets

Player of the Match: Pat Cummins (56* from 15 balls; 2-49)

The most successful franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) - Mumbai Indians (MI) - after losing their initial two games in the 15th season of the tournament took the field at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune, looking to open their account against a confident Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) side who were sitting second in the points table.

The 22-7 margin in favour of MI strongly indicated their strong hand against the “Men in Purple”. In their last 13 face-offs, Mumbai had defeated Kolkata a roaring 11 times.

Knight Riders captain, Shreyas Iyer, on winning the toss, opted to bowl first, being aware of the fact that Pune was the only venue where both games had been won by teams defending their total. While KKR had included Pat Cummins and debutant Rasikh Salam, Mumbai Indians welcomed Suryakumar Yadav into the playing XI, besides handing a debut cap to South African U-19 World Cup hero, Dewald Brevis.

KKR reach top of the table with third win

Put into bat first, MI never looked in rhythm being stuck at 55-3 in the 11th over, losing two of their main players. Rohit Sharma was dismissed to the current purple cap holder, Umesh Yadav for the fifth time after his horrible innings of 3 off 12, which was also his 61st single digit score, the most in IPL. Ishan Kishan too was sent back by Pat Cummins for the fourth time in T20s (third time in IPL). In between those, young Dewald Brevis showed his class for an entertaining 29 off 19 balls.

But Mumbai lit up the stage in the last five overs smashing 76 run in the last 5 overs thanks to the 83-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma; the former reached his third fifty against KKR. Later on, Kieron Pollard smashed the ball all over the park in the last over of the innings as he nailed down Cummins for 22 off just five balls to fire MI to 161/4, which was still 10-15 runs short of an ideal first innings score. Although, KKR had won eight out of nine games against KKR defending 160+.

Kolkata, in reply, made a decent start but kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Even though run-scoring wasn’t an issue, someone was required to stand there to do the job. Venkatesh Iyer’s scratchy fifty did the job for KKR before Pat Cummins lit up firecrackers in the latter half of the innings, in the process equaling the fastest fifty record in IPL, to hand another easy victory to KKR.

Let’s scan the top performances from MI vs KKR game, TATA IPL 2022:

Pat Cummins' 56*(15) and 2-49 give KKR 8th win over Mumbai Indians (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Pat Cummins – the batter - hammers MI attack

KKR, after a decent beginning, seemed to lose momentum with wickets falling at regular intervals. When the big fish Andre Russell was sent back to the dressing room, the match was in the grip of Mumbai Indians. But that was until they faced a storm who goes by the name of Pat Cummins. The recently appointed Test captain of Australia, after completing his national commitment, was playing his first game for KKR in 2022.

In his six games against MI, he had nailed the ball at a strike rate of almost 170; to be more precise, in his last two innings against Mumbai, he had 33 off 12 balls and 53* in just 36 balls.

Cummins put up a show of his skill of timing with the bat to hammer down 56 runs from just 15 balls to take KKR home with ease. He began his night with a six and boundary off Tymal Mills before nailing the same shots against Jasprit Bumrah. Unlike most other batters, Cummins has an upper hand against Bumrah, scoring at a strike rate of almost 180 without being dismissed.

If that wasn’t enough for the viewers, he just blasted his compatriot Daniel Sams for a ballistic 35-run over which included four mighty sixes and a couple of boundaries. Cummins equaled the fastest half-century record in IPL off just 14 balls. Kolkata marched on to an easy 5-wicket victory over their nemesis, MI, with four overs to spare.

Read More: IPL 2022, MI vs RR, Top Performances: Buttler's 100 elevates RR; Bumrah's 3-17 goes in vain for MI

Venkatesh Iyer's 41-ball-50 gives KKR 8th win over Mumbai Indians (images ©BCCI_IPL)

Venkatesh Iyer’s half-century provided KKR the stability at the top

In the 15th season of IPL, left-handed opener, Venkatesh Iyer hasn’t been in the greatest of forms with just 32 runs in three matches. But with a decent score to chase, Kolkata needed someone to stand in the middle till the end to anchor the innings.

Iyer, who registered a fifty from just 30 balls last season against Mumbai, didn’t take too many chances before getting set. A couple of boundaries against Sams got him going in the fifth over. After a boundary, he hit Murugan Ashwin for half a dozen runs. The wickets though were falling from the other end.

Soon, with another maximum and few boundaries, Venkatesh completed his second successive fifty against MI and his fifth half-century in IPL. Although the “Cummins Show” snatched the spotlight from him later on, Venkatesh Iyer who was retained by KKR for INR 8 crores, laid a platform for Kolkata’s victory.

Read More: IPL 2022, KKR vs PBKS, Top Performances: Russell's 70* hands KKR second win after Umesh's 4-23

Suryakumar Yadav scores 36-ball-52 in first innings against KKR (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Suryakumar Yadav stood tall to get Mumbai to a respectable total

Coming in to bat with MI at 45-2 in the eighth over of the game, comeback man, Suryakumar Yadav, was trying his best to get out of jail after being cramped on 10 off 17 at a time.

Surya, who loves playing against KKR, with an average close to 40 and a strike rate of over 140, turned the tables on his favourite opposition with a four and six off back-to-back deliveries from Umesh Yadav against whom he scores at a strike rate of almost 190. He slapped Sunil Narine, against whom he is yet to be dismissed, for another four and a six. With a boundary in the fresh over from Andre Russell, Surya cracked his third fifty against KKR. It was also his 14th half-century in the tournament.

Because of the stability provided by Surya, the likes of Tilak Varma and Kieron Pollard exploded later on to catapult Mumbai to over 160.

IPL 2022 Points Table

What’s to come

A northern derby awaits the followers of the game as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who are fresh from their win against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), will take on Delhi Capitals (DC), who had lost their last game against Gujarat Titans (GT). The game will be played at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on April 7.

Here are some of the top twitter reactions from MI vs KKR game, TATA IPL 2022:

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