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Rahul Tewatia proves the redemption artist again
Tewatia’s two sixes off the last two balls—in a 3-ball 13*--to seal a win for Gujarat Titans against Punjab Kings is a great example of fine-tuning practice in IPL.
“If you were not hit for sixes yourself, you would not have had a chance to hit those sixes towards the end,” Shubman Gill tells Rahul Tewatia in Friday’s post-match wrap on the IPL portal. As if Tewatia was born to do the redemption act. He perhaps was.
How else does one explain that a Gujarat Titans run-chase that was going to plan for two-thirds of the innings but went awry, requiring Tewatia to ring in his special powers? How does one not be convinced it was fate? If Odean Smith had not given an overthrow with three balls to go, Tewatia would not have got a crack at the last two balls. He did, and stole the show with his finishing act; 11 sixes had been hit in the 238 balls bowled before that, but Tewatia’s back-to-back maximums re-wrote the headlines.
Also Read | Tewatia last-ball six gives Gujarat Titans memorable win
Redemption artist fits well with Tewatia. Two years ago, he shot to fame by pulling off a great escape act against Punjab Kings. That night in Sharjah, Tewatia, after stuttering to 14 off 21 balls, suddenly found his hands to pummel Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over. At the Brabourne stadium on Friday, he had the final word, after he was hit for three sixes, and 24 runs in an over, by Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma.
Yuvraj Singh had to wait a couple of weeks, move continents and formats before exacting revenge with his six 6s treatment of Stuart Broad and England, having been at the receiving end of Dimitri Mascarenhas’ onslaught. Tewatia does it all in the course of a pendulum-swinging three-hour T20 contest.
Tewatia isn’t your muscular power-hitter. He is not even 20 for one to call him a future star. They picked him in the India T20 squad after his Sharjah heroics but did not get a game after failing to meet the team’s fitness standards. At 28, there is no guarantee he will get another chance in international cricket. But before IPL 2020, they wouldn’t even pick him regularly for his state team.
Also Read | Former cricketers break the internet after Tewatia's 2 sixes off last 2 balls
In many ways, Friday’s mid-night thriller also was a manifestation of T20 cricket’s democracy that allows a domestic journeyman with neither oomph in batting or fizz in the spin bowling to grab the spotlight.
Gill had played a commanding top-order innings and PBKS had put on show another muscular batting effort. But the added value to Tewatia’s cameo was how he was able to soak in pressure. The accolades were justified for T20 encourages hyper-specialisation. He did it earlier this season too, against Lucknow Super Giants.
Despite GT’s top order gone and tasked with chasing down 10 runs an over, he shifted gears in the last five overs. “He has a lot of courage,” GT captain Hardik Pandya said after the match. “With the skill-set he possesses, multiple times we have seen how he has pulled off games. As a cricketer, we all work hard, but I am very happy how it's coming off for him.”
There is nothing maverick about the Haryana all-rounder’s repeated ring-a-six acts. He practices these shots for a living just like a top-order batter toils in the nets to counter pace and movement. “I didn’t expect him (Odean Smith) to bowl (second-last ball) at the stumps. When he did, I knew he would bowl a wider line outside off-stump the next ball. When he did, that’s my shot,” Tewatia told Gill. “I have been practicing that shot (hit over mid-wicket) by standing deep in the crease. He couldn’t quite nail the yorker; it was length and it went away for a six.”
Those are the sort of micro-details talent scouts keep an eye on. Rajasthan Royals had spotted that before the world saw it that night at Sharjah. He didn’t shine after that effort for the rest of the season, and another one. But on the auction table, the GT think tank was convinced Tewatia had more to offer.
“Consistency is almost the Holy Grail, isn’t it? Each player strives for exactly that. Rahul is no different,” GT director of cricket Vikram Solanki had told HT before the IPL. “We do look at him as someone who can play consistently for us. We are totally confident of him.”
After the match, Tewatia was trending. “Forget Titans, if Tewatia was on Titanic even that wouldn't have sunk,” former India batter Mohammad Kaif tweeted.
