Rahul Tripathi: The pocket-size dynamite from Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2017

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Kolkata, May 4: A little-known Rahul Tripathi smashed a career-best 52-ball 93 to help Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) register a convincing four-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday (May 3).

With this win, Pune took a big step towards booking a play-off berth for they now have 14 points from 11 matches.

But hero of Pune's Wednesday night win against KKR was opener Tripathi, playing his first IPL, who after smashing the fastest fifty (off 23 deliveries) for his side went from strength to strength.

The Ranchi-born cricketer's explosive knock was studded with nine boundaries and seven sixes, the longest travelled a distance of 86 meters.

No body knew about this uncapped batsman before the start of the IPL but in course of these nine games, the 26-year-old has established himself as the main opener for his side.

Tripathi, who's father is an Army personnel, showed great character and composure during his knock against KKR. He showed tremendous amount of patience during his innings and never got carried away in his knock.

Born in former India skipper and RPS teammate MS Dhoni's city, the right-handed batsman draws inspiration from Dhoni in the dressing room.

An explosive opener for RPS

The first class cricketer from Pune has so far scored 352 runs, including 2 fifties, in the tournament.

At a time when team's main opener Ajinkya Rahane is struggling at one end, Tripathi has managed to provide RPS the kind of start his team wanted from his end.

An aggressive opener

The soft-spoken cricketer, who claims to have hit six sixes in an over at local leagues not once but twice, has done most of the talking with the bat.

He has already smashed 16 sixes and 38 fours in the 9 games played, proving his credentials of being an aggressive cricketer.

Tripathi surpasses David Warner's record

In the game against KKR, Tripathi went past Sunrisers Hyderabad swashbuckler David Warner's 238, to become the highest run-getter in Powerplays in this season of the cash-rich league.

Fastest innings in Powerplay

His 47* off 18 balls, against Kolkata at Eden Gardens, is the quickest innings in the Powerplay in this IPL 10 with a condition of minimum 10 balls faced.

His strike-rate of 171 is the highest among all batsmen in the Powerplay, with a condition of 40 balls faced.

Spending time with Kedar Jadhav helped Tripathi

The Pune lad has spent some time with Kedar Jadhav, who's another Indian star in the making. With his match-winning performances in the recent times Jadhav has now become a household name in the country.

It seems Tripathi has taken a leaf out of Jadhav's book and time isn't far that Pune get to another of their local boys playing for India.

Also, he's caught the attention of the Australia skipper Steve Smith, MS Dhoni and other stars in the RPS squad.

These figures show how effective this youngster has been for his side in the ongoing league and one of the reasons for RPS' success in the IPL.

Pune are now placed at the third spot in the points-table and the Maharashtra batsman has been a vital cog in that.

At the post match conference his fellow team mate Manoj Tiwary threw more light upon Tripathi's performance in the domestic circuit.

"I was following him in the Ranji Trophy as well. Last year he scored a hundred against Bengal, I remember," said Tiwary.

"At that point of time, I knew that if this guy works hard, he will come up. This year also, he played in the quarterfinal against Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, over there, he scored 95 runs," Tiwary added further.

Playing in front of a hysteric Kolkata crowd, that was constantly chanting 'KKR KKR' and 'Dhoni Dhoni', is never an easy task. But Tripathi seemed unaffected by all the noise and continued playing his natural aggressive game. He hit chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who was bowling well, for three sixes on the trot an put the pressure upon the bowler.

OneIndia News