‘Pat Cummins was getting bowled every now and then in the nets’: KKR captain Shreyas Iyer

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer said Pat Cummins was "getting bowled every now and then" in the practice session on the eve of the KKR vs MI IPL 2022 match in Pune. Iyer's comments came after Cummins equalled KL Rahul's fastest IPL fifty off 14 balls and helped KKR beat MI by 5 wickets on Wednesday. Cummins slammed an incredibly 56* off 15 balls that included 6 sixes and 4 fours.

"Extraordinary! I couldn't believe the way he (Cummins) was hitting the ball. Because yesterday in the nets, he was getting bowled now and then, I was batting in the nets beside him then," Iyer said in the post-match presentation.

Cummins was playing his first match of IPL 2022 as he was busy with the Pakistan tour. The Australia Test captain joined the KKR squad last week and after completing a mandatory three-day quarantine, got down to business and straightaway made a match-winning impact against the five-time champions.

Also Read | ‘Rohit fans cool down’: Sehwag after ‘vada pav’ tweet on Cummins draws criticism

Cummins, who had given 23 runs in the last over of Mi's innings, walked in to bat in a tricky situation. KKR had just lost the huge wicket of Andre Russell and needed 61 runs off 41 balls with a struggling Venkatesh Iyer at the other end.

Shreyas said Cummins was told to go for the big hits.

"During the timeout, the plan was for Venky to drop anchor and tell Pat to just swing at everything because that's what he was doing before too," Shreyas added.

"When I went in to bat, I told him to just time the ball because he was overhitting the ball a bit.

"We have to take responsibility as top-order batters. All of us have the ability to hit the ball long. In the powerplay both innings, the pitch was quite the same. After the powerplay, it got a lot easier I guess," he said.