Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are blessed with three brilliant international seam bowlers in Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Pat Cummins. While Umesh and Southee have been exceptional for the Shreyas Iyer-led side in the IPL this season, the performance of Cummins in the initial games was underwhelming, to say the least. The Australian Test skipper went for 190 runs at a horrible economy of almost 12 in his first four games this season, which eventually led to his exclusion from the playing XI.
However, the top-ranked Test bowler made a tremendous comeback against Mumbai Indians as he picked three vital wickets, conceding just 22 runs against the five-time champions in KKR's most recent encounter.
In an interview on the KKR website, Cummins admitted to not being at his best in his first four games and expressed his happiness at finally contributing to the team's cause against MI. The fiery fast bowler stressed that he was toiling hard in the nets when he was benched and an injury to Umesh Yadav gave him the much-needed opportunity to prove his worth on the big stage.
"I probably didn't bowl as well as I'd have liked to in those first four games. So yeah, good to get a go tonight. I was preparing, training, getting ready to be called upon if needed. And Umesh's injury presented a chance," Cummins said.
Cummins said that being an experienced player, he is well acquainted with the highs and lows, and these things don't bother him much. The experienced Australian seamer highly praised the veteran Kiwi pacer Tim Southee for his incredible performances with the ball and revealed that he also learned many things from his Trans-Tasman teammate when he was warming the bench.
"I think I've played enough to not worry too much about the ups and downs, especially T20 cricket", Cummins said. "The last few games on the bench have been a good chance to look at Tim Southee, who has been bowling fantastically well, so learning off someone like him and when I got my chance again just trying to be that little bit more disciplined," the 29-year-old concluded.