IPL 2017: Stokes, Unadkat star in Pune's 12-run win over Hyderabad

Hyderabad, May 6 (CRICKETNMORE): 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 Indian Premier League (IPL) tie at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.

With the win, the Steve Smith-led Supergiant vaulted to the second spot in the IPL standings, and almost booked their place for the IPL play-offs while the Sunrisers remained fourth after their second successive loss.

Unadkat returned with figures of 5/30 from his four overs, including the hat-trick in the final over, which saw the dismissals of Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The left-armer also accounted for the wickets of the in-form Yuvraj Singh and stumper Naman Ojha to get to his five wicket haul.

The left-armer was complimented well by Stokes, who first helped Pune reach 148/8 with a 25-ball 39, before taking three wickets to dent the hopes of the hosts.

Stokes struck with the wickets of the in-form Shikhar Dhawan (19) off his first delivery before packing New Zealander Kane Williamson (4) one ball later as the Sunrisers lost their first match on home soil this season.

Skipper David Warner (40 from 34 balls) did well to get to 500 runs in this edition of the IPL, striking four fours, including three off tweaker Washington Sundar besides clobbering Imran Tahir for a massive six. 

The Australian added 54 runs for the third wicket with Yuvraj (47 from 43) before Stokes returned to see Warner's back with a short ball to be caught by Shardul Thakur at sweeper cover.

Tahir then jolted the hosts with the wicket of Moises Henriques (4) with a googly, which the batsman tried to cut but instead crashed onto the stumps.

With the asking rate mounting, Yuvraj, who got a life on 32 belted a few boundaries and sixes to step up the gas and add 21 runs with Ojha (9), before slicing a short and wide ball from Unadkat only to land in Rahul Tripathi's hands.

Unadkat once again struck on the last ball of his over to pack back Ojha, who repeated the same mistake as Yuvraj did to slice a wide ball for Stokes to take a brilliant running catch.

Requiring 13 off the final over from Unadkat, left-hander Sharma (8) failed to connect the first ball before holing out the second to Stokes at deep midwicket. 

The third delivery cost the hosts the wicket of Rashid (3) off a simple caught and bowled chance before Bhuvneshwar (0) gave Unadkat the hat-trick and his 100th IPL wicket on the fourth ball.

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 Sharma from short fine-leg after he flicked a delivery from left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra in the fifth delivery of the second over and decided to run but was sent back by Ajinkya Rahane.

Stokes took his time to settle in before deciding to tear into the home bowling attack as Smith opted to anchor the innings as he got two lives after being dropped at his personal scores of five and 22 by Bipul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar respectively.

Bipul was carted for another six towards long-on in his next over as Stokes made his intentions clear. It took a faster delivery from leg-spinner Rashid Khan to break the dangerous looking partnership as the ball ran through Stokes' defence, with Pune at 99/3 in 14.3 overs.

Medium pacer Siddharth Kaul dealt two big blows to the visitors by getting rid of Smith and Daniel Christian (4). While Smith was caught by Bipul at short third man, Christian was holed out at long-on by Rashid.

Later, Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed flashes of his old devastating self as he bludgeoned medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two sixes and a four in the 19th over. He bagged another four against Kaul in the final over.