Steven Smith struggled to pronounce Tripathi, so the Rising Pune Supergiant captain during IPL 2017 had nicknamed Rahul Tripathi as “Chowpatty”. Batting close to the Girgaum Chowpatty on Friday night, Tripathi continued his love-affair with Kolkata Knight Riders with a match-winning 71.
Tripathi is no stranger to the Knight Riders. It was his exploits with the willow during the second half of IPL 2021 that had been instrumental in the Knight Riders staging a glorious turnaround and storming into the final.
Personal best
Besides his two-year stint with the Kolkata franchise, Tripathi’s personal best in the IPL has also come against the Knight Riders. Five Mays ago, the Pune-based batter in his debut season had hammered a 52-ball 93 at the Eden Gardens in an incredible chase. No other Supergiant batter could tally 15 runs.
Umesh Yadav and Sunil Narine were the only survivors from that Knight Riders attack at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday. Despite changing into the Sunrisers’ orange jersey this season, Tripathi meted out similar treatment.
Smart play
He swivelled Pat Cummins early on, then tonked Andre Russell over the ropes and showed respect wherever necessary to Narine. But it was his stunning assault against Varun Chakravarthy that will be remembered as much as Umran Malik’s fiery spell to Shreyas Iyer.
No wonder then that Tripathi not only earned a friendly hug from Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum after the game but also high praise from SRH head coach Tom Moody.
“He (Tripathi) was struck down in the last game with cramps but great to see him grab the game by the scruff of the neck and show leadership in that top-order,” Moody said after the game.
Tripathi will be keen to continue to sizzle in and around Chowpatty for the next six weeks.
