One of the iconic moments in the history of the Indian Premier League will be Rahul Tewatia’s iconic knock to help his former side, the Rajasthan Royals chase down a massive target of 224 runs.
While Sanju Samson did most of the scoring, the chase would not have been possible without Tewatia’s late flurry of maximums which helped RR get the win in the end.
Speaking in a podcast with the Rajasthan Royals, fielding coach Dishant Yagnik and manager Romi Bhinder provided some insights as to what went down during that day.
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Surprisingly, Tewatia was sent in to bat at number four in the batting order. Yagnik said,” Actually whoever decided to promote Tewatia to number four was quiet”.
What happened before Rahul did a Tewatia? ️ pic.twitter.com/gMREinJ3zf— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) March 23, 2024
But there was some logic behind the decision as the head coach at the time, Andrew MacDonald had observed his ability to hit the leg-spinners. Yagnik added,” The head coach had seen him bat during the practice matches and noted that he attacked the leg spinners consistently”.
But Tewatia had struggled to get going for most of the innings and was scoring well under the required rate as well. The fielding coach commented,” As the game was coming down to the final few overs, Tewatia was on 14 runs off 21 deliveries. He was trying to hit. Whatever pressure he was feeling, 3-4 others were also feeling it including myself”.
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As the chase was coming down to the final few overs, it was also revealed that Tewatia was instructed to take the single and give the chance for the other batters to score the big runs since he was struggling to pick up the pace.
The fielding coach revealed what might have triggered the left-hander,” Sanju had hit Maxwell for a maximum, he did it again for the second delivery and in the fifth, there was a single but he did not take it. That is where Rahul felt that things are now out of control. I feel like that triggered something in him and he broke the shackles”.
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The rest as we know is history as Tewatia managed to find his groove once again and hit the West Indies pacer, Sheldon Cottrell for five maximums in the 18th over to pull the chase back and bring up a fine fifty to help his side get the win.
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