IPL 10, Match 44, Who Said What - Sunrisers Hyderabad v Rising Pune Supergiant

With 14 points after 11 matches, the Rising Pune Supergiant had a great chance to win this match and virtually seal a playoffs berth but they were up against the Sunrisers Hyderabad who had an unreachable record at home this season. Steve Smith & Co. who have found a new balance in their combination with Ben Stokes’ consistent all-round show and pacer Jaydev Unadkat chipping in with crucial wickets beat them by 12 runs to break the streak.

Stokes has proved his weight in gold for the team as he has been doing the job quite every time he has been called up by the team with both bat and ball. When he walked out to bat RPS were struggling at 39/2 in the 7th over, they hadn’t hit a four through Ajinkya Rahane had stroked a maximum over long-off. Stokes eased the pressure on the team with some big shots and gave them the impetus towards the end of the inning.

He was supported by MS Dhoni who was also able to plunder two sixes and as many boundaries in his knock of 31 from 21 to complement Stokes’ effort who scored 39 off 25. Pune managed 148 which looked under par but the wicket at the RGI Stadium in Hyderabad behaved a lot slower than expected and scoring runs wasn’t easy.

Skipper David Warner once again got the runs for his team with 40 off 34 but weren’t really convincing forty runs and didn’t give his team a head start. Shikhar Dhawan failed and so did Kane Williamson.

Yuvraj Singh rose to the occasion with the team demanding him to take it through. Until the point he was there SRH had the belief that they could complete the chase but Unadkat got the all-important wicket before finishing things off with a hat-trick maiden in the ultimate over of the game while SRH needed 13 runs.

After the win, RPS have moved to the second position with 16 points though their net run rate is still on the lower side with enough points they can ensure it is ruled out of the equation.

In the post-match presentation, Steve Smith said: Very good win. The boys scrapped incredily well. It was a tough wicket to get going on. We thought 148 was a bit below part. We thoguht 165 was about par, but the boys scrapped hard. The stronger boys could time the ball better on that and get the most out of it. We did well to scrap to 147.

The bowlers did a terrific job. The lengths they bowled was outstanding and how we used the long boundaries on one side was crucial. He (Unadkat) is doing nicely and is bowling well upfront. Taking key wickets there as well and deserved to get his hat-trick. Magnificent effort.

We have played really well in the last 7-8 games. We have been on a good little run. We don’t play for some time and it is time to unwind, look at what we have done and come back.

For his five-wicket haul and the hat-trick, Jaydev Unadkat was awarded the Man of the Match.

Accepting his first MoM award this season he said: Brilliant. To get through in that low scoring match was outstading. We are at the top of the table. All of us have work hard, all of us have contributed and that’s how you win matches for the team.

I am very happy with the result today. I am trying to keep it simple and have the backing of Smith, MS and Stokesy. We have been having some terrific talks in the meetings and it is good to implement all those in the match. I have been doing well in this part of the game and I need to continue it for the team. I need to adapt to the wickets and we are playing in Delhi, that would be the batting wickets in the tournament and I have to adapt to that wicket.