Rahul Tripathi finally converted his brilliant starts to a big knock on Wednesday as he helped his side to an emphatic IPL 2017 win over Kolkata Knight Riders with a brilliant 52-ball 93.
Rahul Tripathi, who is yet to earn a national cap, revealed at the end of the match that he had no plans whatsoever for any bowler and played every ball according to his merit.
“I think that worked well. If I would have thought something or I would have made plans that wouldn’t have worked because these are good bowlers; they (Kolkata Knight Riders) are a great bowling side,” Tripathi told teammate Jaydev Unadkat during an interaction for iplt20.com. (HIGHLIGHTS: KKR vs RPS)
“So I just kept it simple to watch the ball, hit the ball and go with my gut feeling. And I think keeping my mind blank was also important. I wasn’t thinking much and played according to the merit of a ball.”
This was Rahul Tripathi’s second half-century in the tournament despite having failed to score 30 on just two occasions in the tournament so far.
Known for his aggressive approach to the game, Tripathi has been instrumental to provide perfect platforms for his side who picked up their seventh victory to go level on points with Kolkata Knight Riders.
“I was getting good starts, and I wanted to carry on that start but we won and that’s more important,” Tripathi added. “I would have loved to finish the match, that’s certainly there. But if we win the match, then it’s okay.”
He also went on to add the importance of sharing the dressing room with the likes of Steven Smith, MS Dhoni, Faf du Plessis and so on stating that the expertise of the international cricketers have helped him grow in confidence on and off the field.
‘Dream to open with Rahane’
“It’s a dream experience for me. I guess opening with Ajinkya bhai… He tells you little things like ‘you’re batting well’ or ‘you’ve got good intent’ and so on. Well, even if you don’t believe in yourself, you start believing when someone like Ajinkya Rahane is telling you these things.
“Even off the field, Faf is there, Ben is there, our team is having so much fun. I’ve also been lucky to remain not out a couple of times to find MS Dhoni join me in the middle,” Tripathi added before candidly confessing that the crowd unnerved him on two occasions when he got run-out while playing with the former India captain.
“I’m not used to so much crowd and I was slow to react on both the occasions.”
Rahul Tripathi also swapped the role in between to don the interviewer’s hat and asked Unadkat what had been working for him as a bowler.
Working well as an unit: Unadkat
Unadkat has played just seven games so far but has picked up 12 wickets, including two against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
“I think as a bowling unit we’re doing really good. I think Imran bhai in the middle overs, me in the starting, then (again in the) middle overs, I think we all are picking wickets. I think that is what is restricting the opposition to lower totals,” Unadkat said.
“I think wicket s is the most crucial part of our game and we’ve been sticking to our plans. I just hope we stick on to the momentum we’ve got and it helps us qualify for the play-offs at a higher position and go through in the tournament.”
