JOIN USBlazing Tripathi floors Kolkata
Rookie batsman Rahul Tripathi played a breathtaking knock of 93 to singlehandedly take Rising Pune Supergiant to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.
The Pune bowlers put up a disciplined effort to limit KKR to 155 for eight before Tripathi fashioned his team’s win with a 52-ball blinder.
The visiting team got home with four balls to spare with Tripathi missing out on a well deserved hundred.
The pick of the Pune bowlers was Jaydev Unadkat, who ended with figures of 2 for 28 after bowling a wicket-maiden in the first over of the game.
It was a sixth win in seven matches for Pune, who have moved up to third place in the points table and closer to a play-off berth with 14 points from 11 matches.
With their second straight loss, KKR remain second in the table with 14 points from 11 matches.
It was all Tripathi in the chase as he stood out in Pune’s star-studded batting line-up.
His sensational innings was studded with seven sixes, three off them coming in succession off chinaman Kuldeep Yadav in the 13th over to reduce the equation to 26 off the last 42 balls. He also struck nine fours.
He however could not stay till the end as he pulled one straight to midwicket in the penultimate over with six runs needed to win.
Daniel Christian then sealed the win with a six off Colin de Grandhomme.
Born in Ranchi and raised in Maharashtra, the 26-year- old Tripathi, who made IPL debut this season, showed fine composure as he held on despite wickets falling around him — Ajinkya Rahane (11), Steve Smith (9), Manoj Tiwary (8), last match’s hero Ben Stokes (14) and MS Dhoni (5).
He was brutal against Coulter-Nile and smashed the Aussie for 4, 6, 4, 4, the last three of them in succession, to race to 18 in seven balls in the third over.
In the next over, India pace spearhead Umesh Yadav took the brunt as he hammered him for a six with a swivel shot on backfoot and followed it up with a four off a slower one.
Earlier, Rising Pune Supergiant dished out a tidy bowling performance to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to a modest total.
Put in to bat, KKR found the going tough in their backyard and suffered their worst start of the season to be struggling at 55 for four inside 10 overs.
Their top four, Sunil Narine (0), Gautam Gambhir (24), Sheldon Jackson (10) and Yusuf Pathan (4) were all back in the dugout midway through their innings.
Unadkat returned with excellent figures of 4-1-28-2, while 17-year-old Washington Sundar too was impressive in his 2/18 from two overs.
The duo of Manish Pandey (37 off 32) and de Grandhomme (36 off 19) revived KKR innings with a 48-run fifth wicket partnership off 30 balls.
It was thanks to Suryakumar Yadav, who was playing in place of an injured Robin Uthappa, KKR were able to cross the 150-run mark after the aggressive batsman smashed 30 off 16 balls.
Score board
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine c&b Unadkat 0, Gautam Gambhir c Rahane b Sundar 24, Sheldon Jackson b Sundar 10, Manish Pandey c Rahane b Christian 37, Yusuf Pathan lbw Tahir 4, Colin de Grandhomme c Sundar b Unadkat 36, Suryakumar Yadav (not out) 30, Chris Woakes (run out) 1, Nathan Coulter-Nile c Sundar b Stokes 6, Umesh Yadav (not out) 2. Extras (LB-5) 5. Total (For 8 wkts, 20 overs) 155.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-19, 3-40, 4-55, 5-103, 6-119, 7-129, 8-152.
Bowling: Jaydev Unadkat 4-1-28-2, Ben Stokes 4-0-24-1, Washington Sundar 2-0-18-2, Shardul Thakur 3-0-21-0, Imran Tahir 4-0-36-1, Daniel Christian 3-0-23-1.
RISING PUNE SUPERGIANT: Ajinkya Rahane c Jackson b Umesh 11, Rahul Tripathi c sub b Woakes 93, Steve Smith b Woakes 9, Manoj Tiwari b Woakes 8, Ben Stokes c&b Narine 14, MS Dhoni c Jackson b Kuldeep 5, Daniel Christian (not out) 9, Washington Sundar (not out) 1. Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-2) 8. Total (For 6 wkts, 19.2 overs) 158.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-59, 3-88, 4-131, 5-139, 6-150.
Bowling: Nathan Coulter-Nile 3-0-41-0, Umesh Yadav 4-0-23-1, Chris Woakes 4-0-18-3, Sunil Narine 4-0-28-1, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-35-1, Colin de Grandhomme 0.2-0-7-0.