‘Trickster’ Unadkat grounds Sunrisers

Hyderabad, May 6 (UNI) For all the hype about building a fortress at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) here, host Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) failed to halt the Rising Pune Supergiant (RSP) juggernaut in their Vivo IPL showdown today. In a match dominated by bowlers, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat walked away with the day’s honours with a brilliant spell that saw him scalp five wickets, including a hat-trick, which had the host fall short by 12 runs, while chasing a modest 149 runs target. His performance out-shadowed a fine all-round effort by his teammate Ben Stoked, the ongoing edition’s costliest buy, andSiddarth Kaul, whose four-wicket haul had the visitors in all sorts of problems while batting first. Following the win, Supergiant jumped to the second spot in the points table, which almost certainly assures them of a play-offs berth. However, the verdict comes as a major blow to Sunrisers, whose clean slate at home has been dented with their first loss in six games. The fortunes of the match swung from one side to the other. Such was the intensity, despite it being a low-scoring one, that the most dramatic turnaround came in the very last over bowled by Unadkat. Sunrisers had the match virtually in their hands as they needed a mere 13 runs in the final over to clinch the issue. After southpaw Bipul Sharma (8) fell in the first ball, Unadkat, accounted for Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to achieve the hat-trick. It was a momentous day for him as it also marked his 100th IPL wicket. His other victims were Yuvraj Singh (47) and wicket-keeper Naman Ojha (9). Stokes, who had earlier scored 39, scalped three wickets, besides doing wonderfully well on the field. Earlier, Stokes sent back Shikhar Dhawan (19) and Kane Williamson (4) even as skipper David Warner was at his best while making 40 from 34 balls that got him past 500 runs in this edition. Yuvraj (47 from 43 balls) was Stokes’ third wicket following which Tahir took the wicket of Moises Henriques (4). Meanwhile, Supergiant had a disastrous start when Rahul Tripathi (1) was run out following a bad call by Ajinkya Rahane (22). Stokes was cautious in his approach and was fortunate to enjoy two lives, thanks to Bipul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Mahendra Singh Dhoni entertained the fans with his cameo knock that was worth 31. Brief scores: Rising Pune Supergiant 148 for eight wickets (Steve Smith 34, Ben Stokes 39, MS Dhoni 31, Siddharth Kaul 4/29) bt Sunrisers Hyderabad 136 for nine wickets (David Warner 40, Yuvraj Singh 47, Jaydev Unadkat 5/30, Ben Stokes 3/30). UNI