Rising Pune Supergiant rode on little-known Rahul Tripathi’s career-best 93 of 52 balls to win, by four wickets, an Indian Premier League (IPL) engagement against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday and take giant strides towards the playoffs.

Pune, now on 14 points from 11 games, moved to third spot with KKR staying on second with the same number of points as Pune from 11 outings. Replying to KKR’s 155/8, Pune scored 158/6 in 19.2 overs.

Tripathi, who is playing his first IPL, brought up his fifty in just 23 deliveries with eight fours and three sixes.

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The Maharashtra batsman went from strength to strength after his half-century spanking chinaman Kuleep Yadav for three sixes on the trot in the 13th over.

Chris Woakes fared best among the bowlers for the hosts (3/18) taking the wickets of Pune and Australia skipper Steve Smith (9) and in-form Manoj Tiwary (8) off two excellent deliveries.

Umesh Yadav (1/22) removed India teammate Ajinkya Rahane (11) early but it was Tripathi who remained unfazed and took the charges against the likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile whom he spanked for 32 runs.

Ben Stokes, the hero of Pune’s last game against Gujarat Lions, departed for 14 but by the time the million-dollar England all-rounder trotted back towards the dugout, the job was all but done.

In came Mahendra Singh Dhoni to loud cheers only to make the long walk back to the dressing room scoring just 5 with Kuldeep picking his wicket.

Tripathi was finally dismissed by Woakes, seven runs short of his maiden ton but Dan Christian (9 not out) hit the winning runs with a six off Colin de Grandhomme in the final over.

Earlier, the New Zealand all-rounder Grandhomme’s 36 and Manish Pandey’s 37 saved KKR the blushes as the hosts recovered from a top-order collapse to post 155/8.A

Jaydev Unadkat (2/28) and Washington Sundar (2/18) were the best bowlers for Pune.

Grandhomme (36 of 19 balls) and Pandey (37 of 19 balls) joined hands when their side were tottering at 55/4 to stitch together a 48-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Suryakumar Yadav (30 off 16 not out) struck some lusty blows at the death hitting two consecutive fours and a six off Unadkat who leaked 21 runs in the penultimate over.

Sans the services of their best batsman Robin Uthappa — out with a niggle, the hosts’ batting lacked zip losing three wickets for just 41 runs in the Powerplay.

Sunil Narine was the first to go, not connecting with the ball in the first five deliveries to finally give bowler Unadkat an easy catch in his follow through.

Sheldon Jackon (10) followed suit soon after, getting hit wicket off the bowling of Sundar.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir (24) hit Stokes for two back-to-back fours and in the next over, tanked Sundar for a boundary and a six before holing out to Rahane at deep midwicket.

Imran Tahir got rid of Yusuf Pathan (4) as the men in purple who have an enviable record at home looked hapless.

Pandey and Grandhomme — dropped once at long -off by Dan Christian when the New Zealander was on 10 — steadied the ship somewhat before Pandey got out.

Christian made amends for his grassed catch, with a slower one which Pandey failed to pick, giving an easy catch to Rahane at deep midwicket.

Unadkat got the wicket of Grandhomme with Woakes (1) getting running out soon after.

Coulter-Nile scored six before falling to Stokes as Umesh Yadav remained unbeaten with Suryakumar on 2.

IANS

Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) ended their three-match losing run as they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 27 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Asked to bat, Pune suffered a late batting collapse but managed to post a competitive total of 161 for eight in 20 overs. In reply, RCB put up an below-par show, being restricted to 134/9, as they suffered their hat-trick of losses.

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For Pune, Rahul Tripathi (31) and Ajinkya Rahane (30) provided a 63-run opening stand and a 58-run third-wicket stand between captain Steven Smith (27) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28) led to expectations that they would score around 175.

But Dhoni and Smith fell off successive deliveries starting from the final ball of the 16th over. They lost three more wickets within three runs. But Manoj Tiwary’s quickfire 27 off 11 deliveries helped them get past 161.

However, the competitive total could easily have been a match-winning one, thanks to the start they got from Tripathi (31) and Rahane (30), who posted 61 at the end of Powerplay overs (six).

Both scored at a fair clip, Tripathi especially impressive with hitting three fours and a six against pacers Adam Milne and Sreenath Aravind.

Rahane too looked fluent, timing the ball nicely as he hit five fours in his 30-run knock.

Leg-spinner Samuel Badree broke the opening partnership as Rahane missed the length completely, allowing the ball to dismantle his stumps, with Pune at 63/1 in 7.4 overs.

The following over, bowled by left-arm spinner Pawan Negi, saw Tripathi hitting straight at Virat Kohli at short cover.

These two quick wickets brought Steven Smith and Dhoni to the middle and a partnership slowly flourished.

Dhoni, who had 28 runs so far prior to this match, showed flashes of his destructive self, hoicking a delivery from leg-spinner Yuzvender Chahal to the roof of the stadium in the leg side.

Smith too joined in the act as the pair got their side past 100 in 13.2 overs.

But just when both were seeming to be dangerous going into the last overs, Dhoni and Smith were bowled in successive deliveries off Shane Watson and Aravind, respectively, leaving Pune at 127/4 in 16.1 overs.

Five deliveries later, Aravind removed Daniel Christian (1). The following over saw Kiwi paceman Adam Milne dismissing Ben Stokes (2) and Shardul Thakur (0) in the first two deliveries, as Pune plunged to 130/7.

Later, Tiwary cracked three fours and two sixes off the 11 deliveries he faced to lift Pune to 161/8.

Chasing the innings, RCB didn’t get a good start, losing opener Mandeep Singh (0) who edged one to wicket-keeper off Shardul in the second over.

Captain Virat Kohli, who at the personal score of 11 got a reprieve as Tiwary dropped a regular catch at first slip off a Shardul delivery in the second over, could only score a 28 off 19 deliveries.

With Kohli’s dismissal, following a miscued shot which landed in the hands of Rahane at deep cover off a Stoke delivery, the hosts were at a spot of bother at 41/2 in 5.3 overs.

RCB bowlers operated with discipline, giving no room for the batsmen. The problem for RCB turned worse as a set A.B. de Villiers (29 off 30) was stumped by Dhoni in the bowling of leg-spinner Imran Tahir, reducing the hosts to 70/3 in 10.2 overs.

Kedar Jadhav (18) and Shane Watson (14) too struggled against the the likes of Tahir and medium pacers Stokes and Daniel Christian.

With the required run rate mounting, a frustrated Jadhav jumped down the track only to drag Jaydev Unadkat delivery on to his stumps, as RCB tottered at 91/4, still needing 71 in 5.1 overs.

Watson followed Jadhav soon to the dug-out after being bowled by Stokes, as RCB looked down the barrel at 101/5 in 15.5 overs.

Shardul dealt a double double blow to RCB, dismissing dangerous-looking pair of Pawan Negi (11 off seven) and Stuart Binny (18 off eight), to plunge the hosts to 125/7 in 18 overs.

Unadkat then got into the act, removing Samuel Badree (0) in the 19th over from which RCB could only score six, needing a mountain to climb. Stokes accounted for Adam Milne (2) to seal the game for Pune.

IANS