‘I was looking for one big hit, one big over’ – Rahul Tewatia on his knock against KXIP

Rahul Tewatia played, most probably, the greatest knock of his life on Sunday, September 27 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. In the first-half of his knock, he had very little clue about proceedings and couldn’t even rotate the strike, leave alone finding the boundaries. Once Sanju Samson got out, the Royals were set to taste their maiden defeat of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, Tewatia started firing on all cylinders and scored 53 off 31 balls with the help of seven sixes. The Royals won the game by four wickets with three balls to spare. Talking about his prowess, Tewatia said that experience of playing alongside some international stars has helped him immensely.

“I play for Haryana and made my Ranji Trophy debut in 2013-14. I played a lot in Lahli (in Rohtak) which favours medium pacers. The presence of three India international spinners in our team helped me a lot over the years,” Tewatia said during a pre-match press conference.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav and Amit Mishra are the ones, who Tewatia has played with in domestic cricket. Among the trio, Chahal is currently a key member of Team India’s national team.

I was told to go and take on the bowlers: Rahul Tewatia

Tewatia said that during the run-chase, Samson kept motivating. The southpaw was looking for an over where he could flex his arms. And it was the over against Sheldon Cottrell where he smashed five sixes to fetch as many as 30 runs.

“When I was not able to hit, I was under pressure, but Sanju told me that it’s a matter of one hit and I was waiting for that one hit,” he stated.

“I was looking for one big hit, one big over and that came (when Cottrell came in to bowl the 18th over). I had the confidence that once I start hitting, I would be able to pull it off. I was looking for a game-changing over to close in on the target,” Tewatia told.

Tewatia said that it was a thought-out plan to promote him up the order. “I was told to go and take on the bowlers, my role was clear from the beginning, from last one month. It was a chance to prove myself,” he added.