Pat Cummins has amazed everyone - not least himself - with one of the great whirlwind Indian Premier League knocks.
The Australia captain has been retained by Kolkata Knight Riders as their star overseas paceman - but in Pune on Wednesday, he morphed into a demon hitter who equalled the record for the fastest fifty ever seen in the IPL.
With a match-winning innings of astonishing clean hitting, Cummins, incredibly, smacked 34 off his own bat off just one seven-ball over from his compatriot Daniel Sams to win the match with four overs to spare.
"I think I'm probably the most surprised bloke here," he laughed as he collected the man of the match prize and all the other IPL gongs - super striker of the match, game changer of the match, 'Let's crack it' sixes award, and most valuable asset of the match.
In all, Cummins, playing his first match for KKR this season, smashed an unbeaten 56 off just 15 balls, with six sixes and four fours - at a strike rate of 373.33 - to power the Knight Riders to a five-wicket victory over shell-shocked Mumbai Indians.
He reached his fifty in just 14 balls, equalling the all-time record for fastest fifty in the IPL by Lokesh Rahul in 2018, and then cracked the next ball back over poor Sams' head for six to win the match.
Sams was clobbered by Cummins for 6, 4, 6, 6, 2 (no-ball), 4, 6 in that one fateful last over which went for 35 runs in total.
Off the fifth ball, Cummins did get caught at long off off Sams' waist-high beamer but he got a reprieve when it was ruled a high no-ball, which cost Mumbai three runs.
The Knight Riders had needed 35 from 30 balls and Cummins got them all in just that one over, with his final blow allowing them to breeze to their victory target on 5-162.
His heroics came after Cummins also did what he's largely paid for - taking the two valuable wickets of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan when Mumbai batted and made 4-161.
It wasn't just Sams who got the treatment from Cummins. He also smashed sixes off two formidable pacemen, Jasprit Bumrah and Tymal Mills.
"I think I'm probably at my best when I don't think too much. I just swing hard and tonight it just came off. Don't try to overthink it," smiled Cummins.
He has hit a couple of IPL fifties before but he reckoned this one ranked as easily the number one. "That's really satisfying, first game here, it means we're now three wins from four," he said.
"At Pune , the ball seems to fly here a bit, it's got a short side so just I tried to attack the short side."
The Australian captain reckons he's bound to get some stick now from his teammates.
"I'm sure I'll get some messages about my Test match batting where I can hardly get it off the square!" he laughed.
His KKR captain Shreyas Iyer was simply amazed by the ball-striking. "I was just watching the ball fly!" he said.
"I couldnt believe it the way he was striking the ball, especially because yesterday when I was watching him in the nets, he was getting bowled every now and then! An outstanding performance."
Venkatesh Iyer made a less explosive 50 not out off 41 balls in Kolkata's third win this season, which puts them top of the IPL table.
