'Great that most of the squad has been retained' - KKR's Pat Cummins ahead of IPL 2022

Australian skipper and Kolkata Knight Riders’ express pacer Pat Cummins is looking forward to join the two-time IPL champions ahead of 2022 edition. The 28-year-old also expressed his happiness that the core members of the squad have been retained by the franchise.

Notably, KKR retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer before the IPL 2022 mega auction. The management also spent a big part of their purse in bringing back some other squad members including Cummins, Nitish Rana, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi and Rinku Singh.

Cummins also recalled his time with now KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer as they both were a part of the Delhi franchise in IPL 2017. The pacer also expressed his happiness on the fact that there will be an element of familiarity as many of the old players have been retained.

Shreyas Iyer seems like a calm guy: Pat Cummins

“Really excited. It’s been great that most of the squad has been able to (be) kept together. So, most of the players and staff know really really well. Shreyas, I played with at Delhi (Daredevils), we got on really well,” Cummins said during a virtual media interaction.

“He seems like a very calm guy and seems in form at the moment. I’m so excited to go over there; I have some close friends I will be playing alongside, can’t wait,” he added.

The Australian speedster has performed decently for the franchise. In IPL 2020, Cummins scalped a total of 12 wickets in 14 matches. In the 2021 campaign, he managed to take nine wickets in seven games. Cummins also scored runs at a strike rate of 166.07. In IPL 2021 mega auction, the pacer was bagged by KKR at INR 7.25 crore.

Meanwhile, KKR will take on the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the first match of IPL 2022. The match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on March 26 (Saturday).