Tripathi, Markram give SRH third win on the bounce

After a poor start to IPL 2022, Sunrisers Hyderabad have begun to gather some momentum as Kane Williamson’s side won their third game on the bounce against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium. Led by two outstanding half-centuries from Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram, SRH cruised home in the run-chase with 13 balls to spare after T Natarajan & Umran Malik picked up five wickets between them to limit Kolkata to 175 for eight.

Kolkata made three changes to their XI for this fixture, with Aaron Finch replacing the unwell Sam Billings, but the Australian captain failed to make an impact on his KKR debut, falling to Marco Jansen in the second over for seven. SRH were incredibly disciplined with their lines and lengths with the new ball, and this pressure paid off as T Natarajan removed Venkatesh Iyer and the promoted pinch-hitter Sunil Narine in the fourth over. The opener had his stumps disturbed due to a lack of foot movement while Narine carved a full toss from the left-hander straight to the hands of cover.

From 38 for three, Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana stitched a 39-run partnership to temporarily stem the flow of wickets, but the KKR captain struggled against the pace of Umran Malik and was dismissed by a devastating yorker from the fast bowler on 28. 

Malik also managed to remove Sheldon Jackson in the 13th over, but Nitish Rana and Andre Russell kept the scoreboard ticking for KKR in the final ten overs to help them put up a respectable target. Rana scored his first half-century of the season in 32 deliveries, while Andre Russell used his brute force to monstrous effect, creaming a trio of boundaries off the final over from J Suchith to take Kolkata to 175.

In response, Hyderabad suffered another poor start in the powerplay, with both openers falling against the new ball. Abhishek Sharma pulled one onto his stumps in the second over off Pat Cummins, while the captain departed in a similar fashion after another disappointing knock of 17 from 16 deliveries. 

Despite the early setbacks, SRH continued to counter-attack through the blade of Rahul Tripathi, who played an outstanding innings off 71 from 37 deliveries. Tripathi started his onslaught with a couple of sixes against Andre Russell and Aman Khan, and the right-hander didn’t allow the KKR spinners to settle into a rhythm, creaming two sixes and a four in Varun Chakravarthy’s opening over. Tripathi reached his half-century in just 21 deliveries and shared an incredible 91-run stand alongside Aiden Markram to turn the game on its head.

Although Tripathi departed in the 14th over with 41 runs still needed off 34 balls, Aiden Markram provided the perfect finishing act to seal the win for SRH. The South African creamed a couple of boundaries of Varun Chakravarthy in the 16th over before going 4, 6, and 6 against Pat Cummins to take Hyderabad to victory with two overs to spare.