Rahul Tewatia Provides Another Grandstand T20 Finish in a Game of Ideologies

In a game of two sides with different approaches, Rahul Tewatia provided a wonderful finish. The Gujarat Titans come into the IPL as a side full of bowling options but very little batting options, just enough to make it work in the tournament. PBKS are full of strength. They keep going after the bowlers despite losing wickets and are often in a situation of hit or bust. Last night, they risked failure as they had a middle order collapse. Had it not been for a ninth-wicket partnership, they would have ended well below the 170-175 mark.

From PBKS’s point of view, their mistakes seemed obvious at some stage. With Rashid Khan bowling out in the 16^th over, instead of milking him and making merry in the last three overs, their batters decided to go after Rashid Khan. Rashid Khan is a dangerous bowler when batters take him on and this time he showed why as he picked up two wickets to break the back of PBKS. The move costed them a good twenty runs. While PBKS optimized the middle overs nicely, they struggled to close out the  innings.

Gujarat Titans showed their own style as the innings went on. Their bowlers were taken for runs but continued to look for wickets, taking wickets at regular intervals. Wickets before the death helped them apply pressure and made things easier for them. They have a handful of talented wicket-takers with Mohammad Shami, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan in the side. In those three, Gujarat Titans have a bowling attack with bowlers who can carry a side on their own.

While batting, Shubman Gill brought his own style of play into the game. With 190 to chase, the required run-rate looked threatening. Gill however showed that steep chases can be achieved through timing and running between the wickets. He shifted gears smoothly and found an able partner in Sudarshan as both players were cruising to the target. Some good overs in the middle put the pressure back on them as both were not able to adapt to the style of hitting big.

While Titans looked to build a chase around Gill, their ideology seemed to be failing. The required rate kept climbing in the death and Hardik Pandya was run-out in the final over in a moment that almost sealed the game for PBKS. Up until the last few balls it looked like the team which looked for big hits was beating the team that depended on bowling might.

Fate however didn’t have it that way. Rahul Tewatia had his own statements to make. With twelve to get off two, Rahul Tewatia had another PBKS and Caribbean bowler in his sights. He stole the game from PBKS and helped show that bowling might with some lusty finishers is more than enough to win games and to win consistently as GT march unbeaten.

In the last two balls, Rahul Tewatia found the meat of the bat, and while one six just cleared the fence, the other went a long way as Rahul Tewatia predicted Odean Smith to go outside off. The prediction allowed him to move across and swipe with ease. While Rahul Tewatia did provide a grandstand finish, a remembrance must be given to a mistake made by Odean Smith which shows that a T20 game can be decided based on small details.

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With 13 to get off three, David Miller mistimed a ball back to the yorker. The batters didn’t run but Odean Smith had a shy at the bowlers end, missed and conceded an overthrow to get Rahul Tewatia on strike. The overthrow turned out to be a crucial point as Rahul Tewatia finished another heroic finish. He brought back shades of his 2020 form when Rahul Tewatia hit five sixes against PBKS’s Sheldon Cottrell and steered RR to a win from a challenging position against SRH in the same season. With those two finishes, Rahul Tewatia has shown that he can move his game around and hit the big blows when needed.

Two teams with different styles took each other on, and in the end, it was Rahul Tewatia who had the final say. A clash in ideologies never ends and there will be more going forward but for now it looks like the side with stronger bowlers and all-rounders has the upper-hand.