Tripathi, Markram make it look easy

Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) The average score at the Brabourne Stadium in IPL 2022 so far has been 175-plus. So, when the Kolkata Knight Riders managed to reach 175/8 in 20 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 25 of IPL 2022 on Friday, it looked they have done enough to make a fight of it.

And though teams batting second have won three of the five games played at the venue before Friday's match, Sunrisers's job was made difficult after they lost openers Abhishek Sharma (3) and skipper Kane Williamson (17) with 39 runs on the board.

Enter Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram, who scored blazing half-centuries to help Sunrisers cruise to a seven-wicket victory with 13 balls to spare.

Tripathi hammered 71 off 37 deliveries and Markram 68 off 36 as they added 94 runs for the third wicket as Sunrisers cruised to victory.

Tripathi was playing against a team he had represented in 2020 and 2021 but was released ahead of this edition and SRH picked him in the auction. So, the 31-year-old Maharashtra batter had a point to prove to the KKR management and he did that in style.

Indeed it was their brilliant batting that turned the match in Sunrisers' favour though their bowlers, especially T. Natarajan and Umran Malik, who shared five wickets between them, had made things a bit easy for them.

KKR were reduced to 31/3 in the fifth over from where they recovered to post 175/8 thanks to a 36-ball 54 by Nitish Rana and 25-ball 49 not out by Andre Russell.

But the chase turned out to be easy as Tripathi and Markram took charge. Tripathi hammered spinner Varun Chakaravarthy for a four and two sixes -- a well-timed loft over covers followed by am better shot on one knee in the same region -- off consecutive deliveries in the eighth over to keep SRH well in control of the chase.

Markram, who struck Chakaravarthy for a four and six off successive deliveries, ended the match by hammering Pat Cummins for a four followed by two sixes -- a heave over mid-wicket and a hook over deep square leg, to ended the match on a rousing note.

With this innings, Tripathi must definitely made KKR wonder what they are missing as the 31-year-old batter is the top scorer for SRH so far with 171 off five matches.