Rising Pune Supergiants’ middle-order batsman Manoj Tiwary ternmed Rahul Tripathi’s 93 as an “outstanding knock” but rated Ben Stokes’ century against Gujarat Lions as a “better” one simply for the adverse situation in which he scored those runs.
“Honestly I will put Ben Stokes’ innings ahead of Tripathi’s. We were 10/3 in the last match. The way he took us through was a treat to watch. It was one of the best innings I have witnessed,” Tiwary told reporters after Supergiant beat KKR in their away encounter.
But he was all praise for Tripathi, who has been one of the finds of the season.
“Rahul was outstanding today. He’s been in good touch from the start of the season. Last year, he scored a hundred against Bengal (domestic season). I knew that he would come up. He’s been good touch, I’m really happy that he carried that momentum into IPL,” Tiwary said.
The Bengal captain feels that gone are those days when youngsters were nervous when pitted against world class players during the initial days of IPL.
“Initially in the IPL, youngsters were nervous. Nowadays they are all matured enough to deal with all these situation. They are not intimidated by jam packed stadiums. The focus is on the middle. It didn’t look like Rahul was focusing anywhere apart from the 22-yards. His fanbase will grow further after this.”
But Tiwary didn’t forget to mention that Stokes’ inspirational performance against Gujarat Lions has played a massive part in Rising Pune Supergiant’s resurgence.
“It would have been a difficult game here. But Ben Stokes’ inspirational knock has helped us a lot to do well at KKR’s home venue. It’s pretty pleasing to see everyone contributing and we are peaking at the right time,” Tiwary said.
The gap between matches in the IPL is minimal and that’s the reason a stand—out performance like one from Stokes lifts the morale of the side.
“Whenever you are winning, everyone is in a good state of mind and there are a lot of happy faces around. It was an inspirational knock (referring to Stokes).”
On their win against KKR, Tiwary said that everyone was keen to grab the No 3 slot in the points table.
“We were at number four (in the table) and we knew we would climb to number three should we win. That was going in the back of our mind. They are such a strong and balanced side. We are now psychologically ahead as we head towards the play-offs.”
We can still finish in top-two, says Woakes
Back to back defeats in a fast-paced tournament can be detrimental but Kolkata Knight Riders all- rounder Chris Woakes is confident that their side will win the remaining matches to finish among top-two going into the play-offs of the Indian Premier League.
“Our camp is still upbeat. We have some important games coming up and we want to make sure that we win to qualify. We still firmly believe in the dressing room that we can go on to finish in top two,” Woakes said his team’s four-wicket loss to Rising Pune Supergiant.
A top-two finish in the league gives a team two chances to make it to the final as they are entitled to play Qualifiers. The third and fourth teams are engaged in an Eliminator.
“We did not quite get going in the Powerplay. To lose three wickets in Powerplay put us behind but we always tried to rebuild. When you keep losing wickets in T20 cricket, it’s hard to keep up with the rate. We were probably short by 15-20 runs. We were below-par and not an ideal score to defend on this wicket,” Woakes said.
Unlike a cliched about taking positives from a victory, Woakes said there were none.
“It’s hard to take any positives, when you lose a game in T20. Sometimes it can be called ugly when you lose a game.
Probably, they could have cruised home a bit sooner. Total above 150 is not a huge score particularly here at Eden Gardens, usually a good pitch with a fast outfield. Par is round about 170-180 here. But we can take positive from the fact that we fought all the way till the end.”
Sunil Narine looked out of sorts against some exceptional swing bowling from Unadkat as they were down to 40/3 inside Powerplay.
“I think he’s come off on a few occasions and got us to absolute flier. We also chased down some good scores and also he allows us to set some good total as well. He’s a good player top of the order. In case he gets 20 off 10 balls I would say he got us off to a good start,” he said backing the team’s decision to send Narine atop the order.
“The ball swung around a little bit in the first over. You have to give credit to the bowler sometimes. To bowl a wicket-maiden in Twenty20 cricket, you have to be using them right.”
Woakes termed Rahul Tripathi as one for the future.
“It’s always difficult to stop a player on his day. We dropped a few chances against (David) Warner (in the previous match against Hyderabad). When you give good players some chances they take it for advantage.
“But we did not do that today and dropped any chances. He (Tripathi) played a fantastic knock. All credit to him. He put us under pressure. He attacked the new ball and when spinners came in he hit some good boundaries and cleared the ropes. He looks a very good player a guy for the future. Sometimes you have to say “very well played“.”
He also pointed out that the absence of form player like Robin Uthappa hurt them. Uthappa is suffering from hamstring pull.
“It’s a big void for us. He scored a lot of runs for us this tournament and is up there with the leading scorers of the tournament. Fingers crossed, he’s not out for too long and is back for the next game.”
