Ben Stokes has come into his own in the business end of IPL 2017. After helping Rising Pune Supergiant beat KKR on Monday, the English all-rounder delivered with both the bat and ball to guide RPS to another victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. He scored 39 runs and took three wickets.
But, he was not the only hero of the match for RPS as Jaydev Unadkat also took five wickets, including a hat-trick to shine in IPL 2017 Match 44.
SRH did not have a massive total to chase, with 149 runs required to win the contest in front of their home fans. The chase was always going to be tricky for SRH, as the ball was not coming onto the bat in the first innings. It did not change much when SRH came to bat, which made matters difficult for David Warner's side.
SRH, after witnessing RPS batsmen struggling in the first innings, decided to play some attacking shots and get a head start during the chase. It was primarily Shikhar Dhawan, who was dealing in boundaries while Warner was not really able to time the ball, as it was stopping on the batsmen as well.
However, Stokes struck gold in his very first over, dismissing Shikhar and Kane Williamson. Though SRH lost two wickets during the Powerplay, they would have been happy with 47 runs on the board as they were not chasing a huge score.
Yuvraj, on the other hand, was not able to score runs as the way he would have liked. He was playing some dot balls, and the pressure was building on the left-hander, who edged the ball for a boundary in the ninth over. He must have been relieved with that boundary as he drove beautifully to hit another four.
The SRH received a major blow few overs later with Warner (40, 34b, 4x4, 1x6) being dismissed and caught in the deep. It was Stokes' third wicket of the match, and the home team were in further trouble as Moises Henriques lost his wicket too in the next over.
All eyes were on Yuvraj (47, 43b, 4x4, 2x6) as SRH had to score more than 8 runs per over from in the remainder of the second innings. With Pune bowlers finding their rhythm, it was getting difficult for SRH to pick up the scoring rate.
Sunrisers Hyderabad had to score at more than 10 runs per over in the last four for SRH to win, and it looked difficult for the home team after Yuvi was out in the start of the 18th over. After a good penultimate over from Stokes, SRH had to score 13 runs from the final over. Unadkat shone brightly in the final over, taking a hat-trick to win the game for his side.
Earlier, Rising Pune Supergiant never really got into the game after losing the wicket of their in-form batsman Rahul Triapthi. Things could have been even worse for the visitors, but Bipul Sharma dropped a single catch to give Steve Smith new life.
With SRH bowlers bowling brilliantly in the first six overs, RPS could not score runs at a swift rate. Boundaries were hard to score in the Powerplay despite having a wonderful player like Smith and Ajinkya Rahane. They only hit one six in the first six overs, scoring just 35 runs.
Rahane was out in the seventh over, and Stokes walked to the crease, but the duo of Smith and Stokes were also not able to take the attack to the opposition. However, Stokes decided to cut loose, and finally RPS began to get a move on as the Englishman hit some sixes to score some important runs.
With Stokes (39, 25b, 1x4, 3x6) in aggressive mood, Rashid Khan uprooted his leg stump. After which, RPS lost the wicket of Smith (34, 39b) and Dan Christian in the next over. MS Dhoni was under huge pressure to help RPS get a decent total on the board.
The former RPS skipper did show his big hitting skills, and hit two sixes and a four in the penultimate over. He was dismissed in the final over, where Siddharth Kaul took two wickets including Dhoni as well.
RPS scored 148 runs in 20 overs, which just proved to be enough for RPS to beat SRH.
Match Scorecard
RPS: 148/8 in 20 overs.
SRH: 136/9 in 20 overs.
Result: RPS won by 12 runs
Bowling: SRH: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-39-0 ; Ashish Nehra 1.1-0-5-0; Siddarth Kaul 4-0-29-4; Rashid Khan 4-0-18-1; Moises Henriques 2.5-0-15-0. Bipul Sharma 4-0-39-1
RPS: Jaydev Unadkat 4-0-30-5; Washington Sundar 3-0-19-0; Ben Stokes 4-0-30-3; Imran Tahir 4-0-24-1;Shardul Thakur 2-0-12-0; Dan Christian 3-0-21-0.
Fall of wickets: RPS: 6/1, Rahul Tripathi (1.5 overs); 39/2, Ajinkya Rahane (6.4 overs); 99/3, Ben STokes (14.3 overs); 101/4, Steve Smith (16.1 overs), 105/5, Dan Christian (15.6), 142/6, Manoj Tiwary (18.6 overs), MS Dhoni, 147/7, (19.3) Shardul Thakur, 147/8 (19.4)
Fall of wickets: SRH: 25/1, Shikhar Dhawan (4.1 overs); 29/2, Kane Williamson (4.3 overs); 83/3, David Warner (12.2 overs), 96/4, Moises Henriques (13.6), 117/5, Yuvraj Singh (17.1 ov), 127/6, Naman Ojha (17.6 ov), 136/7, Bipul Sharma (19.2 ov), 136/8, Rashid Khan (19.3 ov), 136/9, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (19.4 ov)
