Ahead of their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) this Saturday, Rising Pune Supergiant’s (RPS) young batsman Rahul Tripathi said it’s a “dream experience” for him to open the batting with Ajinkya Rahane.

On Wednesday, Tripathi’s 52-ball 93 helped the Pune side register their third win on the trot, when they beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The young Maharashtra right-hander said the support of the senior members in the team like Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ben Stokes and Faf du Plessis has helped him convert the starts into big match-winning knocks.

Commenting on his experience of opening the batting with Rahane, who himself is due for a big score after a string of starts, Tripathi said: “It’s a dream experience for me. I guess opening with Ajinkya bhai… He tells you little things like ‘you’re batting well’ or ‘you’ve got good intent’ and so on. Well, even if you don’t believe in yourself, you start believing when someone like Ajinkya Rahane is telling you these things.”

“Even off the field, Faf is there, Ben is there, our team is having so much fun. I’ve also been lucky to remain not out a couple of times to find MS Dhoni join me in the middle,” Tripathi added.

The win against KKR helped Pune change places with Hyderabad, who have slipped to fourth in the league standings after their six wicket drubbing at the hands of Delhi Daredevils on Tuesday.

The Hyderabad side will now bank on their home record of winning all the five matches so far, to set their house in order as the tournament progresses to its business end.

(IANS)