April 22, 2017
Brief Scorecard: Rising Pune Supergiant 179 for 4 (Dhoni 61*, Tripathi 59, Rashid 1-17) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 176 for 3 (Henriques 55*, Christian 1-20) by 6 wickets
April 22, 2017
Brief Scorecard: Rising Pune Supergiant 179 for 4 (Dhoni 61*, Tripathi 59, Rashid 1-17) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 176 for 3 (Henriques 55*, Christian 1-20) by 6 wickets
The crowd went wild after MS Dhoni hit the winning runs off the final ball, Rising Pune Supergiant v Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2017, Pune, April 22, 2017 – BCCI
PUNE – One man under constant scrutiny and another man recovering from his father’s demise shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 58 runs in 3.5 overs to help Rising Pune Supergiant beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets off the last ball in the 24th game of the Indian Premier League 2017 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday (April 22).
After Hyderabad made 176 for 3, Pune’s chase had reached a stage where they needed 41 off 15 balls. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, dropped on 25, shifted gears against Mohammed Siraj and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His sequence read 6 (long-on), 4 (point), 1 (long-off), 1 wide, 4 (fine-leg), 4 (third-man), 6 (long-on) and 1 (point). By the time Dhoni was off strike, the equation had come down to 14 off eight balls.
With 11 to defend in the final over by Siddarth Kaul, Rashid Khan dropped an easy catch at midwicket off Manoj Tiwary’s bat and the ball trickled to the fence. The equation boiled down to two off the final ball and Dhoni hit Kaul between cover and mid-off for his fifth four. Dhoni, who also hit three sixes, remained unbeaten on 61 off 34 balls, while Tiwary was on 17 off eight balls when victory was brought up.
This was only the third time since their debut in 2013 that Hyderabad failed to defend 177 or more. It was all due to a combination of the manner in which Pune kept David Warner quiet, Rahul Tripathi’s maiden half-century and Dhoni’s calculative knock.
That Hyderabad posted a competitive total was because of an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 47 runs in 3.3 overs between Moises Henriques and Deepak Hooda. While Hooda picked up the length quickly enough to make a 10-ball 19, Henriques’s 28-ball 55 was more comprehensive. It came after Warner batted till the 17th over, but made only 43 in 40 balls – one of his slowest innings in 110 T20s in India.
MS Dhoni returned to form with a match-winning knock, Rising Pune Supergiant v Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2017, Pune, April 22, 2017
Pune brought in Washington Sundar, the offspinner who at 17 years and 199 days became the third youngest IPL debutant after Sarfaraz Khan and Pradeep Sangwan, to counter Hyderabad’s left-hand batsmen. Hyderabad were without an unwell Yuvraj Singh, but Washington did his job against Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, conceding just two fours in three overs.
It played a part in Warner and Dhawan putting on just 55 in 8.1 overs – the slowest half-century partnership of the season across teams for any wicket – before Dhawan pulled Imran Tahir’s first ball straight to Tripathi at deep midwicket to fall for 30 in 29 balls.
Kane Williamson, the game-changer against Delhi Daredevils, continued from where he had left but played an off-cutter from Dan Christian early to be adjudged leg before wicket.
Warner, dropped on 26 by Smith off Ben Stokes, was the next to fall when in an attempt to push the scoring he tried to switch-hit Jaydev Unadkat but was bowled. Henriques and Hooda salvaged the innings with 30 runs in the last two overs, but Dhoni and Tiwary bettered it.
After Bipul Sharma, replacing Yuvraj, had Ajinkya Rahane caught by Kaul at mid-on in the fourth over, Tripathi, dropped on 17 by Bipul, and Smith threatened to run away with the game with some clean hits during their 72-run stand in 7.4 overs.
Tripathi’s second six when he walked down the track and lofted Kaul straight over his head into the sightscreen was filled with confidence. He hit another six and a four in that over as Pune ended the Power Play on 55 for 1.
Rashid, who had gone wicketless in the previous game against Delhi, provided the breakthrough in his third over when Smith (27) played on to a googly. Then, off the first ball after the second strategic break, Tripathi responded to Dhoni’s call but Rashid, the bowler, was alert to run between the batsmen, pick up the ball and produce a direct hit at the batting end. Tripathi (59) was back in the dugout even before the third umpire had pressed the red button.
Rashid’s figures of 4-0-17-1 left Pune needing 76 in the last six overs. Pune sank further when Bhuvneshwar returned for his third over and Stokes hit him straight to Vijay Shankar, the substitute, at deep midwicket.
Hyderabad, the defending champions and the masters of death bowling, would have been confident of finishing the job but Rashid’s dropped catch and Dhoni’s calmness led to the most thrilling successful chase of the season so far.
Courtesy: Wisden India
