Jaydev Unadkat’s hat-trick handed Sunrisers Hyderabad their first home defeat, in a 12-run victory for the Rising Pune Supergiant.
It was a battle for second place in Hyderabad as the Rising Pune Supergiant (14 points) took on SRH (13 points), with a win for either team strengthening their chances of a qualifying spot.
The two teams have met on three occasions, with the Pune-side winning twice and losing once.
Captain David Warner won the toss and elected to bowl first, which turned out perfectly for the hosts who restricted RPS to 148-8.
Steve Smith (34 off 39 balls), Ben Stokes (39 off 25 deliveries) and MS Dhoni (31 off 21) were the only significant scorers for their side, as Siddarth Kaul ripped through Pune’s batting lineup.
The 26-year-old right-arm medium bowler ended with figures of 4-29, which included the wickets of the former and current RPS captains, Dhoni and Smith.
For SRH, Warner gave his side a good start despite a deadly bowling performance from Stokes (3-30). The Australian ace scored a 34-ball 40 but was Stokes’ third victim as they were reduced to 83-3 (12.2 overs).
Imran Tahir then disrupted the home side’s momentum further, picking up the wicket of Moises Henriques (4) to strangle SRH four runs short of the 100-run mark.
Unadkat then joined the action, playing an important role in finishing off the hosts. He ended a brilliant performance from Yuvraj Singh (47 off 43 balls) and then dismissed Naman Ojha (9) in the 18th over, to knock over the host’s top six for 126.
With Sunrisers on 136 and needing 13 runs off the final over, a hattrick from Unadkat (5-30) sealed SRH’s fate, as they slumped to their first home defeat.
This was RPS’s fourth win on the road, as they moved up to second position on the log, two points behind the Mumbai Indians (18 points) who have a game in hand.
In Delhi, the Mumbai Indians beat the hosts by 146 runs, to strengthen their position on the top of the standings. An opening stand of 79 from Lendl Simmons (66 off 43 balls) and Parthiv Patel (25 from 22 balls) took the visitors to 79 before the fall of the first wicket.
Despite losing Simmons next, Kieron Pollard put in a destructive knock of 63 from 35, to take MI to 212-3, which included three sixes in the final over from Hardik Pandya (29 0ff 13).
MI cruised to victory becoming the first team to qualify, by skittling DD for 66 in 13.4 overs. Harbhajan Singh (3-22) and Karn Sharma (3-11) were the pick of the bowlers, as MI recorded the highest margin of victory in IPL history.
Photo: Prashant Bhoot/Sportzpics/IPL/Cricinfo
