Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ace pacer Pat Cummins, who shined with the bat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an IPL 2021 encounter said that batting lower down the order makes him hit big shots and score quickly as there is a very small window to perform.
Chasing the mammoth target against CSK in their fourth game of IPL 14, KKR was completely out of the game as they lost half of their side for just 31 runs.
Andre Russell joined hands with Dinesh Karthik and the duo counter-attacked CSK bowlers and gave little hope to fans but after their wickets, it seemed that MS Dhoni-led side would complete a comfortable victory.
Coming to bat at No.8, Pat Cummins was a surprise package for everyone as the Australian pacer scored brutal 66 runs off 34 balls and took his team close to the victory margin but fell short of 18 runs as he lost his partners at the other end. His knock of runs was laced with 6 sixes and 4 fours.
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Talking about the same, Pat Cummins said that batting down the over he has a very small window to make an impact. He added that he enjoys coming out and swinging a bat from the ball one.
“When you are batting at No. 7 or 8, and then you got a small window to make an impact, so you work on being able to hit from ball number one. I spent a lot of time being a boring Test batter. I can’t score many runs. So, I quite enjoy coming out here and swinging the bat. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t,” Pat Cummins said.
Cummins said that he was surprised to see a lot of messages from his friends and people who were watching in Australia.
“Yeah, it was an awesome game. I was surprised how many messages I got from my friends and a lot of people who were watching back in Australia. I think you always look back and think what you could have done differently to win but it’s pretty cool I think as always,” he said.
Cummins said that he wasn’t thinking about the net run rate but was more focused on how he should try and win the match.
“I wasn’t thinking about run-rate. I was thinking about how to win. I think when the game is completely gone, that’s when you start thinking about the net run rate. But I never felt like the game was completely gone yesterday. So, the first mindset was always – how can we win from here?,” he said.
Concluding his comments, Pat Cummins said that everyone in KKR camp is pumped up and there is a feeling in the team that they can win from any position.
“Everyone’s pumped. I am sure we get a win or two and we will be on our way and flying. But I think there’s a feeling that we can win from basically anywhere. We didn’t bowl our best last night and we still got so close,” he concluded.
KKR will next face Rajasthan Royals (RR) on 24th April at Mumbai and Eoin Morgan-led side would be hoping that Pat Cummins continue his good form with both bat and ball as he would be vital to their changes going ahead into the marquee tournament.
(IANS inputs)
