For Rising Pune Supergiant, Rahul Tripathi has been revelation. Or rather, he has been a revelation for Indian cricket at large. He has lit up the Indian Premier League with sublime knocks as the opener for Pune.
On Wednesday, against Kolkata Knight riders, Tripathi impressed everyone with a 52-ball knock of 93 runs. Of course Pune won the match with four wickets to spare.
“I am just trying to middle the ball, this is all new for me (the big crowds), so I am just trying to concentrate on what I can do,” said Tripathi. “Watch the ball, hit the ball is my way. I know there are areas I need to improve, but I am just doing what I can. I hit six sixes two times in an over recently. I am happy to be hitting the ball well and hopefully it continues,” he added. Tripathi has scored 352 runs in nine innings already, which include two fifties.
Pune captain Steven Smith praised the lad for his knock.
“Been a good little run for us, six out of seven games. Tonight was a really good team performance. We did really well to keep them to 150 and Tripathi, hasn’t he been a revelation,” said Smith.
Talking about his team’s overall performance, Smith was a happy man. “The games we’ve won, we’ve taken wickets through the middle overs and put the brakes on the opposition. Had quite a few different guys stand up and get us over the line. Good for us. Hopefully we’re there come finals time. We thought it would slow down later in the game, so we went pretty hard against the new ball. Then Tripathi just kept going. Unfortunate he didn’t get a hundred. He really deserved it,” said Smith.