Rahul Tripathi scored a brilliant half-century to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to a three-run win over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium last evening.
Tripathi rose to the occasion for SRH after they were asked to bat first by MI captain, Rohit Sharma.
Tripathi, the player of the match, stroked nine boundaries and three sixes on his way to an excellent 76 off 44 and constructed two crucial partnerships with Priyam Garg and Nicholas Pooran to lead SRH to 193 in their 20 overs.
MI, who needed 194 runs to win, scored 190 for seven in their 20 overs.
Despite losing the match, Rohit Sharma’s side scored their highest total of the season in the encounter. SRH keep their playoff hopes alive with the victory.
They found themselves in a spot of bother as early as the third over when opener Abhishek Sharma was dismissed by Daniel Sams for a 10-ball nine runs.
Sams almost took his second wicket early in the sixth over when he dismissed Priyam Garg. Priyam mistimed pull shot off a short ball on the hips. The top edge shot the ball in the sky. Miscommunication between Sanjay Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah proved to be his saving grace.
Priyam, who was playing his first game of the season, had faced nine balls for his 10 runs when he was dropped by Sanjay.
Tripathi, who came in following the fall of Abhishek’s wicket, had little intention to play an innings similar to Abhishek Sharma’s. The 31-year-old showed great form as he led SRH to 57 for one after the PowerPlay. 57 for one is SRH’s second-best PowerPlay score this season.
Tripathi’s intent rubbed off onto Priyam as the 21-year-old made MI pay for dropping him by racing to an excellent 42 off 26. Tripathi and Priyam’s 78-run partnership was broken by a piece of brilliant fielding off his own bowling by Ramandeep Singh. Singh showed great reflexes, taking a low catch after the ball rebounded off Priyam’s bat.
West Indies star Nicholas Pooran picked up where Priyam left off. The 26-year-old wicketkeeper announced himself at the crease with a boundary off the second ball he faced and did not look back.
Pooran hit two fours and three sixes on his way to a handy 38 from 22 balls before he was dismissed by Riley Meredith in the 17th over.
Pooran and Tripathi put together a valuable 76-run partnership. The back-to-back partnership worth more than 70 runs each allowed SRH to put up a competitive total.
Tripathi did not last long after Pooran’s dismissal. He was hot on Pooran’s heels three balls after the West Indies star’s dismissal. Tripathi’s departure meant that SRH had new batters at the crease in the 18th over.
Four balls later, Aiden Markram fell going for a big shot. One of the two new batters had to get a move on while the other settled in. In doing so, Markram slashed at a full delivery but did not get enough bat on it and was caught by Ramandeep Singh at long-off.
SRH captain Kane Williamson stitched together an 18-run partnership with Washington Sundar in the late stages of their innings. The 18 runs came off 12 deliveries. Ramandeep Singh was MI’s best bowler with three wickets from four overs at an economy of 6.66 runs an over. Jasprit Bumrah, Riley Meredith and Daniel Sams also took one wicket each.
Later in the evening, Mumbai Indians came close to chasing down the total but fell short by the slimmest of margins.
MI captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partner, Ishan Kishan, gave their team a steady start. The duo managed to guide their team to a score of 51 for no loss at the end of the PowerPlay.
The pair was scoring at a sedate pace of 8.5 runs an over, and were only six runs adrift of the position where SRH were at the same point.
Speedster Umran Malik, who was introduced in the ninth over, did not have a good start with the ball. The 22-year-old began his over with a no-ball, followed by a wide and then bowled another no-ball. The pacer conceded eight runs without bowling a single legal delivery.
Umran Malik’s first over went for 14 runs. The over offered reprieve to MI who had been slowly falling behind the required run rate in the few overs after the PowerPlay.
MI’s steady innings was disrupted when Washington Sundar struck to dismiss Rohit Sharma. The experienced campaigner charged down the crease to attack a length delivery from Sundar. Instead of clearing the boundary, Sharma hit the ball straight to Jugadeesha Suchith at deep mid-wicket.
Rohit Sharma has endured a tough season and narrowly missed out on his first half-century of the season. He was dismissed for 48 off 36.
Malik atoned for his disastrous first over when he dismissed Ishan Kishan five balls after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. Malik elicited a leading edge from Kishan as the MI wicketkeeper tried to flick Malik to the boundary.
Malik took his third and fourth wickets with the first and last balls of his third over, the 15th over. First, the speedster hurried Tilak Varma into a pull shot that he was in no position to play. Nineteen-year-old Varma top-edged the ball to the covers where Kane Williamson took an easy catch.
The second wicket to fall in the over was that of Daniel Sams. Sams, like Varma, also fell trying to pull a short ball. Like Varma, he mistimed his shot. The miscued shot fluttered to midwicket, where Priyam Garg took a catch in midstride.
Tristan Stubbs’s IPL career has failed to take off on a good note. The 21-year-old was dismissed for a low score for the second time since arriving in India.
This time, Stubbs found himself run-out, after Bhuveneshwar Kumar managed to get a hand to the ball off a Tim David shot. Stubbs had backed away too far to make it back.
With Tim David still at the crease, MI were still in contention for a win. The big Australian finisher took MI to the brink of victory when he punished Natarajan, bludgeoning 26 runs off the 18th over.
In an over filled with drama, Natarajan got his revenge when he ran out David as the 26-year-old Australian tried to squeeze a single off the last delivery to retain strike in the next over.
David fell for an incredible 46 off 18.
Bhuveneshwar Kumar tilted the scales in SRH’s favour by bowling a maiden-wicket over in the 19th over. In the over, Kumar dismissed Sanjay Yadav for a two-ball duck. MI needed 19 runs to win without a specialist batter at the crease.
Fazalhaq Farooqi did his captain proud by defending 19 runs in the last over.
Malik was the pick of the bowlers for SRH. The pacer took three wickets for 23 runs in three overs. Bhuveneshwar Kumar and Washington Sundar took one wicket apiece.
-Supersport
