"I prefer not to be in that position"- Pat Cummins on bowling to MS Dhoni in final over
Australian speedster Pat Cummins explained what his strategy would be if he were to bowl to former Indian skipper MS Dhoni in the last over of a game. The Indian legend has won a number of games for India in the last over, hence Cummins felt he would try something different.
The 28-year-old feels rather than bowling a yorker that could go for a maximum if it isn't executed well, he would rely on variations to keep Dhoni under check. According to Pat Cummins, that is probably the only way a bowler can keep the hard-hitter quiet.
In a live Q & A session on his YouTube channel, Cummins was asked by one of the fans about his thought process when he would be bowling to Dhoni with six needed off one ball. Cummins revealed that he would rather not be facing that situation because Dhoni would deliver more often than not.
"I think I have seen like a million videos of Dhoni hitting sixes off bowlers who missed yorkers. So I wouldn't bowl a yorker, maybe a bouncer or slower ball or a wide yorker. I prefer not to be in that position," Pat Cummins said.
Pat Cummins recalls tough KKR loss against CSK
Although IPL 2021 has been temporarily suspended, the first half produced some absolute humdingers. One of them was the game between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Chasing 221 runs to win, KKR were in a miserable position, having lost five wickets for just 31 runs. But half-centuries from Andre Russell and Pat Cummins kept them alive in the game. Cummins' sensational knock of 66 off just 34 balls went in vain as KKR fell short by 18 runs.
For the 28-year-old, it was a gut-wrenching moment not being able to get his team over the line. The Aussie also believes the tournament got canceled at a wrong time for KKR since his bowling had just started to click by then.
"When IPL 2021 was cancelled it was heartbreaking. I thought the second half was going to be huge for us. Personally, my bowling had started to click. Then obviously came the Chennai game where we almost chased down 220-odd and came about 10 runs short. So that was a tough one," said Pat Cummins.
With the second half of the IPL 2021 season likely to begin in September, Pat Cummins and KKR will be hoping for a better and more consistent run of performances.