Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Rahul Tewatia did not have the best day with the ball against the Kings XI Punjab on Sunday, and gave away 19 runs in his lone over. Asked to chase 227, Steve Smith and Sanju Samson got RR to a flying start and got the team to the 100-run mark in the 9th over. RR skipper Smith was dismissed in the 9th over and out came Tewatia, sent up the order to up the ante in a mammoth chase.
While Sanju Samson kept the boundaries coming from one end, Tewatia was unable to middle even a single ball. In his first 19 balls, he had scored just 8 runs. The team’s required run rate climbed from 10 to nearly 16 an over. Commentators lost faith in Tewatia and question the Royals’ management for not sending Robin Uthappa, an experienced batsman. At one point, even Sanju Samson turned down a single in order to retain strike as Tewatia was unable to land the big shots. At this point, Tewatia had scored 14 runs off 21 balls.
Samson was dismissed off the first ball off the 16th over, with Rajasthan still needing 66 to win. When Sheldon Cottrell was handed the ball in the 18th over, the Royals needed 51 runs from the last three overs.
At this point, Tewatia suddenly shifted gears as he hoisted Cottrell for a series of sixes much to the amazement of his team-mates and opposition players.
Here is what happened in that fateful 18th over of the Royals’ innings:
17.1: (6 runs) Sheldon Cottrell follows Rahul Tewatia with a bouncer, but he gets in the line to hit an innocuous six over long leg. The pull seemed effortless from Tewatia.
17.2: (6 runs) Another short ball, another six. Tewatia stands his ground against the Cottrell bouncer and swings it on the leg side. The ball sails over the stadium onto the road outside.
17.3: (6 runs) After two short balls, Cottrell decides to pitch it up. Rahul Tewatia is on song and hits this one over wide long-off. Tewatia has doubled his strike rate from 60 to 130 in these 3 balls.
17.4: (6 runs) Cottrell got advice from his teammates Mohammed Shami, Glenn Maxwell and skipper KL Rahul before this ball. But this full toss is sent flying over the ropes too by Tewatia. He shuffled early to sweep the wide low full toss over midwicket.
17.5: (0 runs) Dot ball. Some relief for Sheldon Cottrell. He beats Rahul Tewatia with a slower length ball wide outside off.
17.6: (6 runs) Boom. A wide length ball has been sent smacked over the midwicket for another six.
Tewatia (53 runs off 31 balls) was finally out in the last ball of the 19th over and after that Jofra Archer (13 not out) and Tom Curran (4 not out) took the Royals home.
It was the highest successful run-chase in IPL history, bettering the earlier record which also belongs to Royals, who had hit 217 while chasing 215 against erswhile Deccan Chargers in 2008.