Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat star as Rising Pune Supergiant beat Sunrisers Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Ben Stokes (39 and 3/30), Jaydev Unadkat (5/30) and MS Dhoni (31) starred as Rising Pune Supergiant defeated hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday. The win also powered RPS to second spot in points table.

(Photo: IPL/ Screengrab)

Put into bat, RPS scored 148 runs for the loss of 8 wickets on a track which was slower in nature. While Ben Stokes was the leading scorer with 39 off 25 balls, Steve Smith and MS Dhoni chipped in with some important runs for RPS.

Needing 149 runs to win at home, SRH were pushed on the backfoot as Stokes struck twice in the 5^th over of the game to dismiss Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson. The experienced duo of David Warner and Yuvraj Singh then joined hands as they put up a 54-run stand before Stokes providing yet another breakthrough for RPS removing Warner for 40. Moises Henriques was the next man to get out as he dragged one onto the stumps off Imran Tahir’s bowling.

Yuvraj kept SRH in hunt but he and Naman Ojha were dismissed in the 18^th over by Jaydev Unadkat to push SRH further on the backfoot. The Saurashtra pacer struck once again in the final over.

(Photo: PTI)

Sunrisers Hyderabad 136/9 from 20 overs:

HAT-TRICK and a maiden! Jaydev Unadkat has scalped a hat-trick and bowled a three-wicket last-over maiden to complete a stunning win for Rising Pune Supergiant.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 127/6 from 18 overs:

WICKETS! Big blow for Sunrisers Hyderabad as Jaydev Unadkat dismisses Yuvraj Singh. Yuvi could not time one as well as he would have liked and Rahul Tripathi makes no mistake holding onto that catch in the deep. The Saurashtra bowler removed Naman Ojha in the same over.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 96/4 from 14 overs:

WICKET! Imran Tahir celebrations have begun. Moises Henriques drags one onto the stumps.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 94/3 from 13 overs:

WICKET! Wicket number three for Ben Stokes. David Warner departs as Shardul Thakur takes an easy catch in the deep. RPS are keeping SRH in check.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 69/2 from 9 overs:

David Warner has turned up the ante. The Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper, who struggled initially, has taken on RPS bowling as SRH move closer to 70-run mark at the end of 9 overs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad 33/2 from 5 overs:

WICKETS! Ben Stokes has struck twice in his first over to send Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson packing. Brilliant start with the ball for Stokesey!

Sunrisers Hyderabad 25/0 from 4 overs:

Shikhar Dhawan is off to a flying start while David Warner seems to be buying his time as Sunrisers Hyderabad begin the chase on a bright note.

Rising Pune Supergiant 148/8 from 20 overs:

MS Dhoni's 21-ball 31-run knock, with the help of 2 fours and 2 sixes, has taken Rising Pune Supergiant close to 150. Considering the pitch is slow, it won't be an easy task for Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase down the total.

Rising Pune Supergiant 105/5 from 16 overs:

WICKET! Steve Smith departs. Siddarth Kaul strikes and Bipul Sharma makes no mistake holding onto the catch this time around. Two big wickets in quick succession and then Dan Christian follows. Good last 2 overs for SRH. What a turnaround!

Rising Pune Supergiant 100/3 from 15 overs:

WICKET! Just when it looked Ben Stokes was taking the game away from SRH, Rashid Khan strikes. The Afghanistan youngster disturbs the timber as England all-rounder departs.

Rising Pune Supergiant 68/2 from 11 overs:

Ben Stokes has made his intentions clear as he goes after Bipul Sharma in the 11th over. RPS will need him and Smith, followed by MS Dhoni, as they aim to put up a big total on a slow pitch.

Rising Pune Supergiant 40/2 from 7 overs:

WICKET! Bipul Sharma strikes as Rahane mistimes a sweep and finds Yuvraj Singh in the deep. Rahane's patchy IPL 2017 continues.

Rising Pune Supergiant 35/1 from 6 overs:

Two dropped catches, a wicket for Sunrisers, 35 runs for RPS as the powerplay comes to an end. SRH have made sure RPS dont a get flying start but will those dropped catches hurt David Warner and Co?

Rising Pune Supergiant 6/1 from 2 overs:

WICKET! Rahul Tripathi is run out. He takes off as he dabs one to the leg-side. Ajinkya Rahane was clearly not interested in the run. Bipul Sharma, meanwhile, was quick onto the ball and the direct hit has found Tripathi well short of his crease.

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad have won the toss and elected to bowl against Steve Smith-led Rising Pune Supergiant at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

SRH have made two changes to their side as Ashish Nehra and Bipul Sharma replace Mohammad Siraj and Deepak Hooda in the playing XI. RPS, meanwhile, have retained the same team which outplayed Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in their previous game.

Rising Pune Supergiant, who have 2-1 head-to-head winning record against Sunrisers Hyderabad, will look to add one more victory against their name as they take on David Warner-led defending champions.

The last time these two sides faced off, MS Dhoni stole the thunder as Steve Smith-led unit sealed the last-ball win at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium. RPS, who had won 6 of their last 7 games, will be eager to seal another victory and jump to second spot in the points table.

 

However, against SRH, who will be playing on their hometurf, it won’t be an easy task as they will be eager to get back to winning ways after being inconsistent in their last few games. The onus though will be on their star performers – David Warner, Kane Williamson, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Moises Henriques and Rashid Khan – as SRH seek to pip the Pune side.

Squads:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (Captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Eklavya, Dwivedi, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Siddharth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ben Laughlin, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha (wk), Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Barinder Sran, Pravin Tambe, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh.

Rising Pune Supergiant: Steve Smith (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ashok Dinda, Mayank Agarwal, Faf du Plessis, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Dan Christian, Lockie Ferguson, Imran Tahir, Jaskaran Singh, Usman Khawaja, Saurabh Kumar, Ben Stokes, Washington Sundar, Milind Tandon, Manoj Tiwary, Adam Zampa, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishwar Pandey, Rahul Tripathi, Shardul Thakur.