Pat Cummins, Australian pacer loved the aggression with which former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir led the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise to their second Indian Premier League (IPL) title win in 2014.
Pat Cummins said that he enjoyed playing under Gautam Gambhir and loved the aggression with which he led the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their second Indian Premier League (IPL) title win in 2014. Notably, Pat Cummins was involved in a candid chat during a recent Q&A session on Instagram from his hotel room in Chennai.
Pat Cummins’ Favourite Moment Was His First IPL In 2014 With Kolkata Winning The Title
Kolkata Knight Riders last won the IPL title in 2014, which was their second triumph under former skipper Gautam Gambhir before he went to Delhi Capitals in 2018. Asked to name his favourite IPL moment, Pat Cummins said that it was his first IPL season in 2014.
“Favourite moment was my first IPL in 2014 with Kolkata winning the title and then going to next day and see hundreds of thousands of fans on street going crazy,” said Cummins on his Instagram story.
“Enjoyed playing under GG (Gautam Gambhir) he was always really aggressive as a captain which I loved,” he added.
Gautam Gambhir’s contribution to Indian cricket is well known, but he also played a pivotal part in turning the fortunes of KKR since joining the franchise in 2011. Under his leadership, KKR created history by bringing to Kolkata its first IPL trophy.
KKR clinched a nail-biting encounter against CSK in the final of 2012 to lay hands on the trophy for the first time. Gautam Gambhir was a key contributor from both the captaincy front and the batting front, amassing 590 runs (6 half-centuries) in the championship season.
Gautam Gambhir managed to score only 1 run in the first 4 games in the 2014 season. But the fighter in Gautam Gambhir didn’t let him give up and he managed to keep making vital contributions in KKR’s 7 match winning streak which helped the team reach the play-offs. Two wins against Kings XI Punjab, one in the play-offs and one in the final made sure that KKR stood on the Champions podium for the second time.
Pat Cummins Likes Watching KKR Youngster Kamlesh Nagarkoti
There are four parallels that can be drawn between Pat Cummins and Kamlesh Nagarkoti. The first one is that they achieved fame as teenagers, the Australian as an 18-year-old Test debutant in 2011 and the Indian as an 18-year old at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. The second one is that both are right-arm fast bowlers. Thirdly, they are part of the Kolkata Knight Riders, and finally, both have had to deal with injuries after breakthrough outings.
After suffering a stress fracture to the back, Pat Cummins had to wait for nearly six years before he would play Test cricket again for Australia while Kamlesh Nagarkoti hasn’t played top-flight cricket at all before IPL 2020 at UAE since February 2018, having suffered ankle and back injuries. He picked 5 scalps in 10 IPL matches in 2020 averaging 46.2.
Meanwhile, Cummins also said that Team India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and KKR’s emerging fast bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti are his favorite bowlers. “I like watching Bumrah bowl and in KKR youngster Kamlesh Nagarkotti,” Cummins replied when a fan asked which bowler does he like to watch.
IPL 2020 was Pat Cummins’ second stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders as he had been part of the set-up between 2014 and 2015 as well. He played only seven games across those two seasons but he was sold for 15.5 crores (then approx. USD 2.1 million) in December 2019 to become the most expensive player in IPL history before Chris Morris broke his record by getting sold for above 16 crores in IPL 2021 auction.
Pat Cummins had an average IPL 2020 season, going wicketless in a lot of games. He found some form towards the second half of the campaign, finishing with 12 wickets in 14 games at a strike rate of 26 and an economy rate of 7.86.
KKR will open their IPL 2021 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on April 11.