IPL 2017, RPS vs KXIP: Jaydev Unadkat’s brilliant bowling and fielding display is SK Play of the day
With yesterday’s double header ensuring Mumbai Indians would finish on top and Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad would take two of the top-four spots, the penultimate game of the league stage between Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings XI Punjab was perfectly set up as a knockout tie.
Moreover, a loss for the Pune franchise would have meant this would be their last appearance in the tournament.
They won the toss and opted to bowl in this all-important clash. Jaydev Unadkat, one of the success stories of the team this season with 19 wickets, had the ball in hand first up.
Wicket off the first ball
Jaydev Unadkat, only second to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in this season’s wickets tally, has played a key role for RPS along with Ben Stokes.
Given the new ball after Supergiant put Kings XI Punjab to bat, Unadkat struck off the very first delivery and gave his team a dream start, removing Punjab’s hard-hitting Kiwi opening batsman Martin Guptill for a golden duck. An off-cutter which was delivered wide to tempt Guptill into a drive and the batsman obliged by hitting it straight to Manoj Tiwary at cover.
After the early setback, Saha and Marsh batted for the next couple of overs before the latter gifted his wicket to Shardul Thakur with an uppish drive straight into the hands of Smith at mid-off.
Eoin Morgan joined Saha at the crease and got going with a boundary before Unadkat decided to turn the heat on once again, this time from the outfield.
Unadkat’s twin fielding brilliance
Off the third ball of the 5th over, Morgan pushed a fullish delivery from Stoke into the mid-on region and scampered for a quick single. However, Unadkat swooped down on the ball from mid-on, dived forward and rattled the stumps with a direct hit, catching Morgan well short of the crease.
The England T20 skipper returned, having made only 4 runs after returning from national duty.
With Unadkat on a roll with his bowling, it seemed the ball was following him everywhere. In the very next over, Unadkat, positioned at short fine-leg, made a full-length dive to send back Rahul Tewatia, who was promoted up the order.
The Kings were ultimately restricted at 73, which RPS chased down easily to finish second on the points table.