Rajasthan Royals were sitting on the fence, hanging by a thread to avoid an early exit from the race to the playoffs. They were almost outdone by David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad until a certain Rahul Tewatia combined with teenager Riyan Parag to give the Royals another thrilling victory.
The Royals beat the Hyderabad unit by five wickets in Dubai to not only keep their chances of qualifying for the Playoffs alive but also to give themselves a confidence boost that they can win outside Sharjah and it’s very much possible.
At 78/5 with all big guns back in the hut and 12 overs gone, it never looked like the Royals were going to win the match chasing 159. However, they did and the three main reasons for this dramatic win are everything but obvious.
It’s not often that a bowling all-rounder, not of the stature of the Russells and Stokes, would win you two matches out of seven that he plays in, primarily with the bat and that two from situations unimaginable. But Rahul Tewatia the Haryana born all-rounder said was determined to get into the exceptional list and he did.
Coming to bat at number seven with all big fishes already poached, Tewatia slowly and steadily built a partnership with Assamese teenage sensation Riyan Parag before launching an onslaught on the Sunrisers bowlers. The fact that he hit Rashid Khan, the most economical bowler of the tournament so far, for three consecutive fours in the 18th over of the chase, made him believe that getting 22 of the last two was very much possible and he did get that.
Tewatia’s innings of 45 off 28 balls earned him the Man Of the Match award as well.
All of 18, Parag played such a brilliant supportive role to Tewatia that when he made the transition from a supportive role to that of an aggressor, there seemed that no extra effort was put in by him. His unbeaten 85 run stand with Tewatia led to the Rajasthan victory. He made 42 off 26 deliveries with five wickets down. But more important was the fact that he acted maturely, which is rare to find in a professional, let alone a teenager.
His presence on the crease ensured that Tewatia wasn’t rattled thinking that he had gone for the chase alone. This is what was missing in the earlier games of the Royals and Parag with his phenomenal striking made sure that this time around the team was not left stranded in the middle, with nowhere to go. This win was needed for Steve Smith’s men and they finally have it courtesy of two uncapped Indians. The 'Bihu' at the end was just the icing on the cake that was required for the victory to taste sweeter for Rajasthan camp.
Hyderabad’s bowling attack revolves around Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Since Bhuvneshwar is not available, Rashid was supposed to up the Ante’ and he did that too. However, when it was the turn of him to bowl against the Tewatia- Parag duo, he faltered badly conceding more than 14 runs in the 18th over when the batting team needed to go just 12 an over.
Before his last over of the spell, Rashid had given away just 11 runs of the first three overs. It was this rare leaking of runs from his side that led to a more than a comfortable situation for the Rajasthan batsmen.
Now that the Rajasthan Royals are back in the middle in the points table, they would like to co9ntiunue with their form when they face Delhi Capitals on 14th October. For Sunrisers, they have to find the answers within themselves as they would face another struggling team in Chennai Super Kings on 13th October.
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