ABU DHABI: Pace spearhead Pat Cummins struck an invaluable 36-ball 53 to lift Kolkata Knight Riders from a hopeless situation to a respectable 148 for five against Mumbai Indians in their IPL match here on Friday.
After a top-order failure, it was Cummins (5x4;2x6) and new skipper Eoin Morgan (39 not out off 29 balls; 2x4; 2x6), who conjured 87 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket, to pull the team out of trouble.
Opting to bat, Kolkata lost opener Rahul Tripathi (7) early, courtesy a sensational catch by Suryakumar Yadav at point, in the third over off Trent Boult (1/32).
It became 33 for two as Nitish Rana (5) perished cheaply after he was caught by Quinton De Kock off Nathan Coulter-Nile (1/51) as a short ball worked for the Australian pacer in the sixth over.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (2/18) struck twice in the eight over, removing the young Shubham Gill (21) and Dinesh Karthik (4) off successive balls and reduced Kolkata to to 42 for four.
While Gill holed out to Kieron Pollard at long-on in an attempt to accelerate the run-rate, Karthik played onto the stumps at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
KKR lost half their side for 61 as Andre Russell perished for 12.
A bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah (1/22) did the trick as Russell lobbed off a sitter to de Kock.
Cummins smashed Nathan Coulter-Nile for two fours and a maximum in the 13th over, which fetched KKR 16 runs and then made optimum use of a life he got.
Cummins and Morgan added 53 in the last five overs, and they were particularly brutal against Coulter-Nile, who leaked 51 runs in his four overs.