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[caption id="attachment_43845" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Rahul Tripathi played a brilliant knock of 93 runs against KKR on Wednesday. Image Source: BCCI[/caption] Internet Desk: Rahul Tripathy is making all the right noises in his maiden season in IPL with Rising Pune Supergiant. The 26 year old cricketer from Maharshtra is already being regarded as the best young talent to burst into the scene. The Rising Pune Supergiant opener has a lot of resemblance with MS Dhoni. Like Dhoni, Rahul was also born in Ranchi. He almost missed the state trials as he was giving his board exams. According to Mr Ajay Tripathy, father of Rahul , “My son was mad about cricket from his childhood days. When he was in Upper Nursery he used to play with pencil and eraser in his classroom. I still remember  we were in Gangtok when he was 4 years old. He used to strike the ball so hard at his age that most of the balls were lost. But that did not stop me from encouraging him to play the game. He was good at his studies as he always scored 98 percent marks in mathematics. I decided to let him take the sports rather than getting him into academics.” It was quite an interesting story when Rahul underwent his trials for the state team. In the words of Mr Tripathi, “He was called for the trials for the Maharshtra Ranji Trophy team. But he had his exams that day. I still remember, it was the last day of his trials. I took him in my Maruti 800 after his exams and drove straight to the railway station. I requested the coaches to give him an oppoprtunity. So they asked him to bat in the nets for a couple of balls. The coaches got impressed to see his technique and so they asked him to bat for a couple of more balls.” Former India captain MS Dhoni also had a similar story in his life. Mr Tripathi also shared how Dhoni once asked him about his childhood days once he came to know that he also hailed from Ranchi. Rahul has been going to Deccan Gymkhana for the last 14 years. His best moment came when he scored three consecutive hundreds in U’19 cricket in 2009. He was also declared the best cricketer in India U’25 level. According to Swapnil Gugale, Rahul’s teammate in the Maharshtra team, “His biggest asset is he plays flawless cricket. Bascically he is a very hard working cricketer. The way he prepares for his matches is something one should admire. Even during the off season he maintains his daily routine.” Gugale also plays for the same club in Pune. Both he and Rahul shared wonderful friendship. They both quite a few times during the IPL. “He was veryexcited the day he first met Dhoni and Rahane. He was just waiting for an opportunity and believe me , everyone will see a lot more of him in days to come,” says Gugale. Swapnil still remembers the innings Rahul played in the CK Nayudu final when he played an absolute stunning innings of 283 runs to guide Maharshtra to the championship. “We were struggling at 125/5. He looked quite relaxed as he went to bat during lunch. All I said to him was to somehow win the match for us. He scored 283 runs in that innings and the team posted 535 on the board. In a club match we were playing four months back, he went on the rampage against a spinner from Mumbai as he hit him for six sixes in the same over.” It was Tripathy’s blazing knock of 93 runs off 52 balls last night that paved the way for a incredible win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. Very few had discussed his name in the Pune Supergiant squad at the start of the season. And rightly so as the franchise had players of the calibre of Steve Smith , Ben Stokes and Ajinkya Rahane. But the perceptions about him started to change quickly as he scored 33 runs from 17 balls with two sixes and three boundaries. He has never looked back since as he grabbed the opportunities with both hands. The 26 year old is presently the top scorer for his franchise. Tripathi's 251 runs off 144 balls is also the best Powerplay aggregate this season, ahead of Warner's 238 off 160 balls. He is also the fifth highest run scorer in the tournament with 352 runs from 9 matches. Speaking to IPL T20, Rahul descibed his innings last night as "If I had made some plans that wouldn't have worked because these are good bowlers, they are a good bowling side. So I just kept it simple to watch the ball and hit the ball and just go with my gut feeling. Keeping my mind blank … that was important and that helped me today. I played as the ball was coming so I played according to the merit of the ball.” He further added, "I feel good. I was getting good starts so I wanted to carry on that start. It's good that we won the match, that is more important. I would have loved to finish the match, that's one thing. But it's okay, if we win the match it's okay I miss the century."