Mitchell Starc, the IPL's most expensive buy, came good on Tuesday night at the Modi stadium to rock Sunrisers Hyderabad. Starc claimed the scalps of Travis Head, Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed in the Powerplay. SRH ended the Powerplay with a score of 45/4, their third-lowest Powerplay score this season.
From there on, fans witnessed some counter-attacking cricket from Rahul Tripathi and Heinrich Klaasen.
They forged a 62 run stand in a mere 37 deliveries to impose control. Tripathi raised his bat for his 12th IPL fifty following a reverse sweep to find the fence for a four.
Klaasen was then caught in the deep off Varun Chakravarthy for 32 before Abdul Samad came out and made his intentions clear.
Samad launched his first delivery into the stands for a six. After the timeout, Samad cleared the ropes once again off Sunil Narine.
Next ball, a well-set Tripathi (55) was run out as Samad chopped the ball to backward point and continued to run while Tripathi stood watching the ball.
Andre Russell quickly dispatched the ball to wicket-keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz who comfortably dislodged the bails off the stumps.
Tripathi's run out changed the trajectory of the match as KKR wrested back control.
Tripathi was a picture of sadness as he walked back towards the dressing room.
The broadcasters showed him seated on the stairs, leading to the dressing rooms, dejected, with his head in his arm.
The clip induced a range of reactions on X.
'Cricket, The game of Emotions,' wrote one with a heart emoji.
'Well Played Champ Rahul Tripathi. Not only survived the fiery spell of Starc but also took us back into the game from nowhere,' read another tweet.
'Rahul Tripathi has to be the most passionate Indian batter,' another SRH fan wrote.
Tripathi will get another go at helping SRH to a place in the final when they play the Qualifier 2 in Chennai on Friday.
