It was around 20 minutes of madness at the MCA Stadium here on Wednesday, as Pat Cummins went absolute berserk to score a record-equaling fastest 50 (off just 14 balls) in the IPL as Kolkata Knight Riders comfortably beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets with 24 balls to spare. The knock surprised opposition skipper Rohit Sharma, Cummins’s own skipper Shreyas Iyer, the 18,000-odd crowd and Cummins himself. It was some clean ball-striking of high quality from the Australian and given his proven cricket intelligence, there definitely was a method to the madness. 

“I probably think I’m most surprised by that innings. I’m glad that it came off. I was thinking of having a swing as if it was in my area, wasn’t trying to over-think,” Cummins said after the match. Apart from not over-thinking, Cummins also kept his plans simple and workable. “I was just trying to pepper the shorter boundary,” said Cummins, who finished unbeaten on 56 off just 15 balls, smacking six sixes and four fours en route.