IPL 2023: Rahul Tewatia proves to be PBKS’ nightmare once again

Mohali: Punjab Kings suffered back-to-back defeats after going down by 6-wickets with a ball to spare against defending IPL champions Gujarat Titans on Thursday.

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Chasing a modest 154 runs to win, GT were on the brink at one point needing 7 runs from six balls. Sam Curran then dismissed a set Shubman Gill on the second ball to tip the scales ever so slightly in Punjab’s favour. But Rahul Tewatia struck the winning runs, a boundary, on the second last ball to power Gujarat home.

Tewatia’s scoop over short fine leg sealed the win and added to his personal battle with Punjab over the years. He celebrated the narrow win, which took GT to third in the points table, by punching his chest in celebration.

“Nothing happens overnight. I was given this role in 2020 when I was with the Rajasthan Royals. When they gave me the role, there was clarity. Batting at No.6 or No.7…obviously you have 14 league games and you get to bat eight or nine times in this situation. It’s a different thing if your team collapses and you get to bat in the 10th or 11th over. So most of the time you get to bat only after the 13th or 14th over. I have been practising the same thing for the last three-four years,” said Tewatia after the match.

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“I give myself targets, I play a lot of match simulations – which gives me the idea when I can take the chance and how I can finish the match. According to me the most important thing is you need to know the right time and the right bowler. It’s not like you can finish all 10 out of 10 matches but yes, you will finish the majority of the matches, which GT has been doing from the last season,” he added.

It is not the first time Tewatia has been Punjab’s nightmare. During IPL 2020, when representing Rajasthan Royals, Tewatia saw RR chase down a steep 51 runs from 18 balls. On that night, the left-hander struck five sixes off Sheldron Cottrell for an overall 53 runs from 31 balls.

Last year, in the clash between Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai, GT needed 18 runs from 6 balls. On the first ball, much like the game on Thursday, Gujarat lost a wicket (of Hardik Pandya) and the tension started to rise. With 12 runs needed from two balls, Tewatia struck Odean Smith for consecutive sixes in a miraculous finish.

For Gujarat Titans, it should have been a straightforward chase. But the brakes were applied by some tight bowling from the Kings, with Harpreet Brar curtailing the flow of runs in the middle overs. GT could only add 55 runs in the 6-15 over period, slowing down the pace achieved by 56 runs in the powerplay. It left them needing 43 runs from 30 balls.

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“Targets like these, sometimes they become one-sided games. The kind of start given by Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, they opened up the match but they [PBKS] came back and bowled well in the middle overs, they did not concede boundaries for three-four overs,” said the 29-year-old Tewatia.

“Credit should be given to them for pulling it back. Towards the end it was reversing and it became difficult to hit at will. But this is cricket – they came back well but we finished the game to be on the winning side,” he added.

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“When Shubman got out and was coming back, he told me that the ball was reversing a bit. So it was a good thing, getting the information from a set batsman when I was going in to play two-three balls. So knowing before-hand that the ball was reversing kept me prepared,” Tewatia said. “I had two things on my mind. The leg-side is a bigger side and I thought I could take a couple but I felt it was slightly risky and with two deliveries remaining I thought that was a better shot. The ball was also reversing. I backed myself and executed the shot.

This was the 11th time in 12 matches that the Titans emerged successful while batting second, with nine such chases being completed in the final over.

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