After earning an unlikely win against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals batsman Sanju Samson praised Rahul Tewatia for not giving up and rising to the occasion when it really mattered. His comment came as the Rajasthan Royals chased a total of 224 to defeat KXIP for four wickets at Sharjah’s cricket stadium on Sunday. For the Rajasthan Royals, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith and Rahul Tewatia scored more than 50 points to give the team a victory by four wickets. Tewatia came out at bat at number four and was struggling at one point as he had scored just 13 runs of his first 19 balls.
However, in the 18th over bowled by Sheldon Cottrell, Tewatia hit five sixes to turn the tide. The left-handed hitter played a 53 stroke when Rajasthan scored an unlikely victory.
“I think it was the team management’s decision to send Tewatia at number four,” Samson said during the post-game press conference.
“We’ve been working really hard at Rahul Tewatia. He’s a good leg shooter (but) the management saw the hitting ability he had during training sessions (and) decided to send him upstairs. It was a brave move. And it paid off. “he added.
Praising Tewatia’s performance, Samson said: “It was a really good performance from him. Tewatia showed a lot of heart, he never gave up. He was so depressed and I could see that (but) he had the ability to go back and hit those 30 runs from a pitcher. international, in the next tournament it will be crucial for us. “
Sanju Samson had played a 74-run knock against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and followed it up with an 85-run knock against Kings XI Punjab.
Speaking about his approach during the 224 chase against Punjab, Samson said: “During the chase, there was only one way to go. It’s easier in terms of thought process when you’re chasing 220+, it was more about ‘seeing the ball and hit the ball. ‘”
For the match against Punjab, Rajasthan had left out Yashasvi Jaiswal and David Miller to bring in Ankit Rajpoot and Jos Buttler.
Speaking of these picks, Samson said: “Sharjah is tough for bowlers, we wanted to add one more bowler so we left out Yashasvi and brought in Ankit Rajpoot. Definitely with Jos Buttler on the team he has to play on the team. It’s a fact and David Miller got it. “
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