Rise and rise of Pune Supergiant

Hyderabad, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) rode on an all-round effort from Ben Stokes and a hat-trick from left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs in an IPL tie here today. With this win, the Steve Smith-led Supergiant vaulted to the second spot in the IPL standings, and are almost through to the playoffs. Sunrisers, on the other hand, remained fourth after their second successive loss.
Unadkat returned figures of 5/30, including the hat-trick in the final over — his victims were Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Prior to the hat-trick, he also accounted for Yuvraj Singh and Naman Ojha. The left-armer was complimented well by Stokes, who picked up three wickets and hammered a 25-ball 39 to help Pune reach a respectable 148/8. Stokes dismissed in-form Shikhar Dhawan (19) with his first delivery, and then sent New Zealander Kane Williamson (4) packing in the same over. Skipper David Warner (40) added 54 runs for the third wicket with Yuvraj (47 off 43) before Stokes sent back the skipper using a short ball. With the asking rate mounting, Yuvraj belted a few boundaries and sixes. However, his promising knock came to an end when he sliced a short and wide delivery from Unadkat to the wicketkeeper. In the same over, Naman Ojha also chased a wide ball and paid the price.
Requiring 13 off the final over, bowled by Unadkat, Bipul, Rashid (3) and Bhuvneshwar (0) fell on consecutive deliveries to give Unadkat the hat-trick and Pune a 12-run victory.
Earlier, Hyderabad kept it tight at the beginning as Pune got off to a poor start. In-form opener Rahul Tripathi (1) was run out by a direct throw from Bipul. While Smith looked a little scratchy today, Stokes started doing what he does best after taking a while to get his eye in. He had hammered a couple of big blows and was looking dangerous when Rashid slipped in quicker delivery to beat his defence and break the partnership. At this point, Pune were 99/3 in 14.3 overs.
It was thanks to some big blows from MS Dhoni — he bludgeoned Bhuvneshwar for two sixes and a four in the 19th over — that Pune posted a fighting total.