Irfan Pathan in awe of Rahul Tripathi: The uncapped Indian batter has become a source of amazement for the former Indian all-rounder.
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During the 25th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium, Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Rahul Tripathi scored his eighth half-century of the tournament to put his team in a strong position chasing a 176-run target.
Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the second over, Tripathi elegantly flicked Umesh Yadav for a boundary on the second ball that he faced. Boundaries off Pat Cummins and Andre Russell in the powerplay further provided hints about a match-winning innings.
In the first over after the powerplay, Tripathi welcomed debutant Aman Khan by hitting a four and a six. However, the highlight of Tripathi’s innings had come in the following over when he welcomed Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakravarthy by hitting a four and two sixes.
The 31-year old player hitting identical eye-catching sixes off consecutive deliveries whilst holding his pose off Chakravarthy was the pinnacle of his 14th T20 half-century; maiden for SRH.
It was exactly at the halfway mark that Tripathi ran a single off Chakravarthy to touch the 50-run mark. On the next delivery, Tripathi targeted Sunil Narine to hit a six against him.
It was right after hitting a six off Russell in the 15th over that Tripathi ended up giving a simple catch to Venkatesh Iyer at long-on. Having scored 71 (37) with the help of four fours and six sixes, Tripathi played a titular role in a match-winning third-wicket 96-run partnership alongside Aiden Markram (68*) as Hyderabad won the match with 13 balls to spare.
Irfan Pathan in awe of Rahul Tripathi as he scores half-century vs KKR
Part of a star-studded 85-member commentary panel for host broadcaster Star Sports Network, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan took to social media platform Twitter to admire Tripathi.
In five innings this season, Tripathi has scored 171 runs at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 178.12 to be the highest run-scorer for Sunrisers.
