In a tie dominated by batting performances by both teams at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai, Rahul Tripathi's 71 off 37 balls for the Sunrisers Hyderabad against the Kolkata Knight Riders stood out above the rest for its quality, pacing and overall impact on the final result of the tie.
Coming in to bat in the second over with his team reeling at 3-1 from the loss of Abhishek Sharma's wicket, Tripathi's mature innings saw him weather the early storm and despite Kane Williamson's dismissal in the fifth over, he took charge of his team's run chase and built a lasting partnership with Aiden Markram that saw the duo through to the closing stages of the game.
Tripathi's innings of 71 included 6 sixes and 4 fours at a strike rate of 191.89 while Markram's 68* featured 4 sixes and six fours at an equally astonishing strike rate of 188.89.
Playing against his previous franchise, Tripathi smashed Varun Chakravarthy for a four followed by two back-to-back sixes in the eighth over, that yielded 18 runs. He brought up his maiden fifty this season off just 21 balls.
No bowler was spared as Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Aman Khan were all at the receiving end of some of the finest stroke play on view as Tripathi raced to a 21 ball 50, his personal best in the T20 format.
By the time he was dismissed by Russell, he had left his team needing the final 43 runs from 34 balls, a task Markram accepted gleefully and saw Hyderabad through with more than two overs to spare.
