Rahul Tewatia has definitely etched his name in IPL folklore with his impressive hit for the Rajasthan Royals against his former Kings XI Punjab team on Sunday. The left-handed hitter scored a surprising fifty to help the Royals chase the highest total in game history.
Chasing 224, the Royals got off to a good start when Sanju Samson and Steve Smith led them to the 100-run mark in the ninth before the latter was fired. The Royals then threw a surprise by promoting Rahul Tewatia at number four and the move appeared to have flopped.
At the time, the Royals needed 124 of 11 overs. The left-handed hitter was struggling to play the big shots as he managed to score just eight runs in the first 19 balls he faced. With each failure of his to play a big shot, the game drifted away from the Royals.
And when a well-placed Samson walked away at 17 after scoring 85, it looked like every Royals. With 51 needed from 3 overs, he seemed like a lost cause for the Rajasthan-based franchise. But what followed thereafter completely shocked the entire cricket world.
In the 18 over bowled by Sheldon Cottrell, the former Kings XI and Delhi Capitals player hit five sixes to turn the game around. He hit a six more in the 19th before going 53-of-21. Royals went on to win the game with three balls remaining.
And shortly after his coup ended, one of his old tweets went viral for the right reasons. Rahul Tewatia had posted that tweet in 2017 while playing for Kings XI Punjab and the tweet perfectly summed up his performance against them on Sunday.
“Keep the faith. The most amazing things in life tend to happen just at the moment when you are about to lose hope.” had tweeted.
Keep faith. The most amazing things in life tend to happen just at the moment when you are about to lose hope. pic.twitter.com/4y807p9W1X
– Rahul Tewatia (@ rahultewatia02) July 15, 2017
