"He’s putting his hand up and bashing the door down as hard as he can" - SRH fast-bowling coach Dale Steyn on Rahul Tripathi’s chances of earning an India call-up
Former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has called for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Rahul Tripathi’s inclusion in India’s T20I squad, following his heroics in the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Steyn is SRH’s fast-bowling coach and has mentored their pacers really well, especially Jammu and Kashmir speedster Umran Malik, who has taken the league by storm with his 150-plus kmph thunderbolts. Tripathi, meanwhile, has been in splendid form this season, amassing 228 runs at an average of 45.60 and a strike rate of 174.04.
The Orange Army are not shorn of star batters as Kane Williamson, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran bring in a lot of value with their international experience. However, Tripathi has stood apart by marrying consistency with aggression and being the catalyst in their middle-order.
In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Steyn expressed his surprise that Tripathi hasn’t played for India yet, stating:
“I certainly believe that Rahul has a serious chance of making it to India’s T20I team. The IPL is a platform that allows players to perform so well that the Indian national team selects players from that pool. It’s strange to see that he hasn’t got an opportunity in the Indian team so far."
Flexibility is Tripathi’s forte
Rahul Tripathi made his IPL debut in 2017 whilst playing for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant. Opening the batting alongside Ajinkya Rahane, he scored 391 runs, including two half centuries, in 14 innings at 27.92 and a strike rate of 146.44. His consistency at the top was one of the prime reasons why the Steve Smith-led side reached their maiden IPL final in only their second season.
The following year, the Maharashtra batter was snapped up by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for ₹3.4 crore at the mega auction, but they mostly used him as a floater. However, due to his unstable batting position and limited opportunities, he failed to live up to his potential for the Jaipur-based franchise from 2018 to 2019.
Tripathi’s resurgence in the cash-rich league began during his Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) stint, which saw him amass 627 runs from 28 matches between 2020 and 2021. In his second season with the Knights, he mustered 397 runs in 17 matches and propelled them to their third IPL final after a seven-year hiatus.
Despite the constant shuffle in the KKR batting order, Tripathi proved to be the match-winner on multiple occasions. His flexibility to bat anywhere in the top six makes him such a valuable asset in the shortest format. Moreover, he’s a complete team man, always ready to adapt with a disarming smile and never willing to complain.
So when KKR didn’t buy Tripathi back at this year’s mega auction in Bengaluru, it did raise a lot of eyebrows. The Purple and Gold brigade did chase him up to a point, but it was not enough to match SRH’s whopping sum of ₹8.5 crore.
SRH are known for giving their players a long rope and stability, and Tripathi rightly acknowledges it. In a recent interview with Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, the right-hander explained how a stable batting position has helped him bring out his A-game for the 2016 champions. He said:
“SRH have given me stability at No. 3 because they trust my ability. I always prefer to bat in the top three, but that doesn’t mean I’m not flexible.”
Tripathi exuded supreme confidence against KKR as he slammed a 37-ball 71 at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium a couple of weeks back, guiding SRH to a seven-wicket win. He became the first Indian uncapped player to register 1,500 IPL runs in the process, leaving several former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Shaun Pollock and Irfan Pathan in awe of his batting.
Steyn, a South African legend with 699 international wickets across formats to his name, lauds Tripathi’s maturity and believes that he can no longer be ignored. The former numero uno bowler in Tests told Sportskeeda:
“Given that the position he bats at [no. 3] is occupied by Virat Kohli in the Indian team, it’s going to be difficult to get that spot. But the way he’s currently playing and the way he has played in the past, he has certainly shown maturity. He’s putting his hand up and bashing the door down as hard as he can.”
Tripathi, 31, still has a realistic chance of representing Team India. He’s an agile fielder, takes stunning catches, runs fast between wickets and is equally adept against both pace and spin. In fact, he’s one of the few batters to record 138-plus strike rates against both pace and spin since the start of the 2020 IPL, a feat that even the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul haven’t achieved.
With the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup all set to take place later this year, Tripathi must continue his rich vein of form in the remaining IPL matches to break into India’s T20I squad and board the Australia-bound flight.