Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Linkedin
Telegram
Rahul Beats Rahul In An Epic Run Chase
Rajasthan Royals beat the Kings XI Punjab by pulling off the highest chase ever in the Indian Premier League history!
PERFORMERS OF THE DAY
KINGS XI PUNJAB Bat: Mayank Agarwal 106(50) KL Rahul 69(54) Ball: Mohammed Shami 4-0-53-3
RAJASTHAN ROYALS Bat: Sanju Samson 85(42) Rahul Tewatia 53(31) Ball: Ankit Rajpoot 4-0-39-1
AS IT HAPPENED
Rajasthan won the toss and took the field.
The KXIP openers started good and never looked like stopping. RR’s decision to bowl looked like a defensive one as they did not hand Jofra Archer the new ball, only to see him get thrashed with a slightly older ball. Rahul and Mayank put up a mammoth 183 run partnership which is now the highest opening partnership in IPL for KXIP.
The RR bowlers never looked like taking a wicket on the small ground of Sharjah. Rahul scored a decent 69 with a strike rate of 121, but it was his partner who took the center stage. Mayank brought up his first IPL century. He hit 10 fours and 7 sixes i.e. 82 runs in boundaries! RR did pull it back a little at the end. With all 10 wickets left in hand going into the last 5 overs, KXIP managed to score just 51 runs which gave RR the necessary momentum going into the chase.
The Many Phases of RR Chase
Rajasthan started good, despite losing Jos Buttler early, who fell to Sheldon Cottrell. Steve Smith and Sanju Samson put together a 81 run stand before Smith got out on a wide half volley of James Neesham.
After the fall of 2nd wicket, much to everyone’s surprise, it was Rahul Tewatia who walked out to bat. He was perhaps sent to hit the long ball but everyone in the commentary box and the RR fans on Twitter criticized this move as Tewatia looked like a fish out of water in his first 19 balls. He scored just 8 runs in the 19 deliveries with no boundaries, in a 224 runs chase! As a result, RR’s run rate plunged and they managed to hit just 3 boundaries from over 10 to 15.
Tewatia, You Beauty!
After Samson got out, everyone thought that the game was dead and buried but there was one man who had hope, one man who nobody even considered a batter at the time who took the onus and scripted perhaps the greatest turn around in cricket. Rahul Tewatia in the next 12 deliveries that he faced, smashed 7 sixes, 5 of them in a single over of Cottrell! Archer’s two sixes at the end made the game very comfortable for RR as they went into the final over requiring just 2 runs. Tom Curren hit a handsome lofted cover drive to seal the game.
What Tewatia Said
Rahul Tewatia in the post-match interview said “That was the worst first 20 balls that I have ever played. I thought I had to believe in myself. It was a matter of one six, after that, I got going.”
MAYANK’S BAD LUCK?
Mayank Agarwal played a nearly match-winning knock in the first game where it went into a super over and KXIP was handed a defeat. Yesterday, he scored his first ever IPL century and surely at the half stage point, he’d thought it was an easy win. But as fate would have it, Samson and Tewatia’s heroics overshadowed a good Mayank knock once again.
Also Read : Gill-Morgan guide KKR to their 1st win
