IPL 2021: Pat Cummins finds himself in rare company with Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag after blitz against CSK

Chasing a stiff 221, Pat Cummins went on to play an unbeaten knock of 66 from 34 balls and turned a dull affair into a nail-biting contest.

Pat Cummins raises his bat in air after scoring half-century against CSK. (IPL)

Pat Cummins produced a heroic effort in the Indian Premier League clash between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. Chasing a stiff 221, the Australian pacer went on to play an unbeaten knock of 66 from 34 balls and turned a dull affair into a nail-biting contest. 

Batting at a strike-rate of 194.12, Cummins smashed four boundaries and six maximums, which also included a 30-run over from Sam Curran.  

So near yet so far. That was an incredible innings from Pat Cummins. Could have been the greatest ever IPL chase. But to get from 31 for 5 to 202, @KKRiders can be very proud. Congratulations to @ChennaiIPL on the win. They are on a roll. #CSKvsKKR pic.twitter.com/miAqq1Fwb6 — Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) April 21, 2021

Cummins brilliant knock has now seen the Australian join a rare list of players to fetch 30 or more runs in a single. Currently, Chris Gayle tops this chart with 36 runs from six deliveries, while Raina stands second with 32, while Virender Sehwag, Shaun Marsh and Rahul Tewatia scored 30 runs each.  

Meanwhile, Gayle is the only player among the list to achieve this feat twice. 

Batsmen hitting 4 or more sixes in an over in #IPL more than once:

Chris Gayle - 7 times
Hardik Pandya - 2 times
PAT CUMMINS - 2 times
10 others - 1 time

PS: Cummins hit 4 sixes off Bumrah in IPL 2020#IPL2021 #KKRvCSK #KKRHaiTaiyaar — Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) April 21, 2021

Batsmen scoring 30+ runs off a bowler in an over in IPL:

36 - Gayle off Parameswaran
32 - Raina off Awana
30 - Sehwag off Symonds
30 - S Marsh off van der Wath
30 - Gayle off Rahul Sharma
30 - Kohli off S Kaushik
30 - Tewatia off Cottrell
30 - Cummins off Curran#IPL2021 — Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) April 21, 2021

This also was the second time when Cummins blasted four sixes in an over in IPL. The Australian had done the same Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah in the previous edition held in UAE. 

Despite a brave fight by KKR lower order, they failed to get their team past the finishing line as CSK beat them by 18 runs in a high-scoring encounter. After the contest, CSK now stand at the top of the points table, with three wins from four matches. KKR, on the other hand, are placed sixth with one win from four encouners.