Day 6 of the IPL 2020 featured a clash of titans as Kolkata Knight Riders took on Mumbai Indians. The entire cricketing community was eager to watch the most expensive overseas purchase of the IPL, the Australian pacer Pat Cummins.
Cummins hasn’t shown his potential in the T20 circuit. However, he improved leaps and bounds over the years. Bowling alongside Mitchell Starc, he has made valuable contributions to the Australian national side. He also had valuable performances on important occasions like the 2015 WC, 2019 WC, and Ashes.
However, ‘Hitman’ and other MI batsmen had other plans. Sharma attacked Cummins right away by hitting him for two sixes in his first over. He passed the baton to Hardik Pandya and Saurabh Tiwary who distorted Cummins’ figures to 49 runs in three overs. He looked really rusty in his lengths as you never bowl short when Rohit Sharma is in form. He did attack Jasprit Bumrah while batting, hitting him for 4 sixes, however, it was too late.
Karthik defended Cummins
Skipper Dinesh Karthik defended his spear-head pace bowler. He believes the quarantine period affected the Aussie’s rhythm.
“It is very unfair to judge him (Cummins) right now. He is just off quarantine, (it is) at 3.30/4.00 PM when he got permission to come and play the match itself. We are just happy to have him and I don’t think this is a game where we need to judge him at all,” Karthik said at the post-match press conference.
“Just the fact that he is a world champion bowler, from whatever I have heard and seen he is one of the best going around in the world. I trust him and I’m sure, he will come good,” said Karthik.
Cummins was purchased by KKR for a massive sum of INR 15.5 crores! KKR has always been known for their explosive batting and spin bowling departments. Cummins was expected to add some steam to their pace bowling lineup and lead a young group of pacers.
Cummins can definitely bounce back. The quarantine period even made MS Dhoni feel lacklustre as he demoted himself to bat at No.7. Cummins will have to establish a rhythm and use tools like a slower one, yorker or a pacy bouncer towards the batsman’s helmet. Karthik can also experiment by giving him the new ball to work with.
Do check out:
