PUNE: Steven Smith led from the front with an unbeaten 51 to lift Rising Pune Supergiant to a challenging 182 for five against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League match, here today.
Smith’s half-century came off 37 balls with the help of four boundaries and a six.
Besides Smith, Ajinkya Rahane (46 off 41 balls), Rahul Tripathi (38 off 23), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (23 off 11) and Daniel Christian (16 off 6) also made useful contributions for the home team.
Left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for KKR with figures of two for 31.
Sent into bat, Pune made a brisk start, courtesy opener Tripathi’s aggressive strokeplay.
Tripathi was at his aggressive best while his experienced partner Rahane played the second fiddle.
Tripahi went about his shots and luck favoured him as he got two reprieves — first an outside in the fifth delivery of the innings which went just over wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa’s reach and then Yusuf Pathan spilled a chance at long-on in the seventh over while running backwards.
During his stay at the crease Triptahi dealt mainly in boundaries and struck Sunil Narine (1/34) for three boundaries to pick up 15 runs in the sixth over.
However, Triptahi’s luck ran out shortly as he under- edged a Piyush Chawla (1/36) googly on to his stumps soon. (AGENCIES)
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