KKR pacer Pat Cummins, who was the costliest overseas player in the IPL 2020 auction started his season on a forgetful not against Mumbai Indians. He went for 49 off his 3 overs as Kolkata, for the first time since 2013, lost their opening match in the IPL. However, skipper Dinesh Karthik has kept his faith on the Aussie pacer backing him to come good for the team ahead in the season.
Meanwhile, the much-famed KKR middle-order failed to get the team even close to the target. Dinesh Karthik (30), Eoin Morgan (16) and Andre Russell (11) failed to fire in unison. All three big guns struggled to get going and in the pressure of keeping up to the asking rate threw their wickets away.
Pat Cummins struck some lusty blows lower down the order as he scored 33 off 12 balls to cover up for his expensive spell early on.
Unfair to Judge Pat Cummins: Dinesh Karthik
Karthik said the Pat Cummins is a world champion and will make a comeback. He further revealed that the pacer got permission to play just hours before the match started. Incidentally, he was in quarantine after landing from the UK following their series against England.
“It is very unfair to judge him right now, he is just off quarantine and he got permission at 3:34 to play the match. We are happy to have him and I do not think this is the game where we need to judge him at all. He is a world champion bowler. I trust him completely and I am sure he will make a good comeback,” Karthik said in the post-match press conference.
Speaking about the batting order KKR is expected to follow in the upcoming matches, Karthik said: “It all depends on the game and the score that we are chasing and what we are doing at any point of time.”
For Mumbai Indians, Jasprit Bumrah bowled a spell of 2/32 picking the key wickets of Morgan and Russell. With the win, they go straight at the top of the points table.
Also Read: IPL 2020, Match 5 KKR vs MI – Match Report