IPL 2017 | Rahul Tripathi powers Pune past Kolkata in style
Rahul Tripathi was at his destructive best scoring an incredible 93 off just 52 balls as the Rising Pune Supergiant made light work of Kolkata Knight Riders’ target of 156 to seal a 4 wicket victory. The win helped Pune leapfrog Hyderabad into 3rd place, level on points with KKR on the IPL table.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 155/8 (Manish Pandey 37, Colin de Grandhomme 36; Washington Sundar 2/18, Jaydev Unadkat 2/28) lost to Rising Pune Supergiant 158/6 (Rahul Tripathi 93, Ben Stokes 14; Chris Woakes 3/18, Umesh Yadav 1/23) by 4 wickets.
Steve Smith won the toss for the Supergiant and chose to field the same side, as Eden Gardens is known to be a chasing ground. Gautam Gambhir, who admitted that he would have opted to chase as well, was forced to change his winning team after Robin Uthappa was ruled out due to a hamstring injury and Suryakumar Yadav was named as his replacement.
Pune bowlers tie KKR down with early strikes
KKR got off to the worst possible start as not only did Jaydev Unadkat bowl a maiden over, he also sent the dangerous Sunil Narine packing. But things got worse for the home side as Sheldon Jackson was dismissed hit wicket after stepping onto his stumps off the bowling of Washington Sundar to leave the Knight Riders stranded at 19/2 at the end of 4 overs. Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey build a 21-run partnership before the former was dismissed while attempting a big shot off Sundar and KKR appeared to be struggling at 41/3. Yusuf Pathan and Pandey tried to consolidate the innings with a patient partnership but right before the midway point of the innings, Pathan was caught plumb in front of his stumps by Imran Tahir to restrict the home side to a mere 59/4 after 10 overs.
Colin de Grandhomme to the rescue
Pandey, who was joined by Colin De Grandhomme at the crease, started to up the ante in the 11th over as he smashed Shardul Thakur for three consecutive boundaries before Grandhomme joined the party hitting Tahir for consecutive sixes to take the score to 89/4 after 12. But just as Pandey was beginning to look dangerous, Daniel Christian got Pune the breakthrough they craved by bringing an end to the 48-run partnership in the 15th over. But with de Grandhomme at the crease, KKR were still looking destined for a competitive score but the Kiwi was deceived by a slower ball from Unadkat and ended up making his way back to the pavilion for a well made 36 runs off just 19 balls. Suryakumar Yadav and his partner Nathan Coulter-Nile took 21 runs off the penultimate over as KKR finally crossed the 150 run mark. But a four-run last over by Ben Stokes restricted KKR to a par score of 155/8.
Rahul Tripathi continues his purple patch
Defending a modest total, KKR got off to a good start after Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled a tight first over and Umesh Yadav sent Rahane back to the pavilion in the second over as the Knight Riders tried to recreate their bowling performance from the RCB game. But Rahul Tripathi had other ideas as he smashed the KKR bowlers all over the park and along with Steve Smith brought up the fastest 50 in IPL history with a beautiful six off Chris Woakes in the 5th over. But the Englishman had the last laugh as he cleaned up the RPS skipper in the same over. Despite the loss of his captain, Tripathi continued treating the bowling attack with disdain and the end of the power play RPS were in complete control at 74/2. Tripathi then brought up his half-century with a cheeky ‘Dilscoop’ shot that crossed the fine leg boundary. Woakes returned to give the home side a much-needed breakthrough as he cleaned up Manoj Tiwary in the 9th over, but at the halfway stage the game was Pune’s to lose at 96/3.
KKR attempt a comeback but Pune breach the Eden fortress
The blitzkrieg in the first half of the innings meant that the remainder of the chase was a stroll in the park for Pune as they needed less than a run a ball to secure the win. But Tripathi was in a hurry to finish things as he smoked 3 consecutive sixes off Kuldeep Yadav in the 13th over. And though Narine removed Ben Stokes in the 14th over and Kuldeep Yadav dismissed MS Dhoni three overs later, Pune