Watch: Rahul Tripathi pulls off an amazing catch in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game
What's the story?
The Maharashtra captain, Rahul Tripathi, pulled off an outstanding relay catch in the Super League game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Railways on Tuesday. Tripathi choreographed the excellent catch with the help of Divyang Himganekar who was keeping a strong vigil at the boundary lines.
In case you didn't know...
In the Super League game between Maharashtra and Railways, the latter won the toss and decided to field first. The decision didn't turn out to be fruitful for Railways as, on the back of Nikhil Naik's 95 and Naushad Shaikh's 59, Maharashtra scored a hefty 177 in their quota of 20 overs.
In reply, Railways tumbled at the score of 156 despite Mrunal Devdhar's brilliant 55. Samad Fallah (3 wickets) happened to be the pick of the bowlers for Maharashtra.
The heart of the matter
Interestingly, the incident happened on the last ball of the game when the Railways were needing 22 runs off the last ball. With unassailable target up against Railways, their number ten batsman Manjeet Singh aimed at tossing the final ball into the stands. However, Tripathi and Divyang's smart act got better of Manjeet's clean hit.
The ball was set to land over the ropes, but it was then when the Maharashtra captain leaped to get the hold of the ball and was about to ground on the other side of the rope with the ball. Nevertheless, before it could happen, the 28-year-old's back-handed throw liberated the ball to Himganekar who was keeping a close eye on the boundary lines. The whole act surprised Maharashtra's teammates as the duo completed one of the best catches in the history of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
What's next?
After a successful run in this year's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Rahul Tripathi will be soon joining Rajasthan Royals' camp. With the 2018 IPL not being too fruitful, Tripathi will hope to regain his IPL form in the 12th edition of IPL.