“Tewatia can do anything,” was Virender Sehwag’s response after the Rajasthan Royals all-rounder hold on to a superb catch in the deep mid-wicket boundary to dismiss Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli in an IPL 2020 match in Dubai.
It transpired in the 14th over of the RCB chase. Kartik Tyagi bowled a length delivery around the off stump, Virat Kohli timed it perfectly using his lovely wristwork but it went flat. Rahul Tewatia was standing at deep mid-wicket boundary. He judged the catch to perfection, lobbed it up in the air after realising the force might take him over the ropes and then jumped back in to complete the catch.
Such was the beauty of Tewatia’s catch, who has been in pretty good form with both and bat and ball for the Royals in this IPL, that Sehwag said ‘the kind of time Tewatia is enjoying, if given an opportunity, he can also come up with a Covid vaccine.’
“Rahul Tewatia can do anything. If given an opportunity to invent the vaccine for Covid-19, the kind of time he is enjoying, he might be able to do it. What a season for him,” Tweeted Sehwag with a photo of Tewatia’s catch in the boundary.
Tewatia had also picked up the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal and scored an unbeaten 19 off 11 balls earlier with the bat.
Tewatia’s all-round show, however, was not enough to ensure a victory for Rajasthan Royals. AB de Villiers smashed four sixes in the last two overs and remained unbeaten on 55 off 22 balls to help RCB chase down the 178-run target with two balls and 7 wickets to spare.
RCB lost Aaron Finch (14) after Australia’s limited overs captain had hit two sixes.
Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal stitched a 79-run partnership for the second wicket but consumed too many deliveries in doing so, failing to keep pace with the required run rate.
Kohli brought the team’s hundred by lofting Rahul Tewatia for a big six over long-on, but Padikkal, while trying to break the shackles after struggling his way to 35 off 37 balls, got out when his pull shot failed to clear Ben Stokes in the deep.
And then came the big wicket of Kohli, thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding by Tewatia, who pulled off a catch inches from the line at deep midwicket on the rebound after the batsman whipped it off his pads.
The ball travelled at a great speed but Tewatia, coming off a wicket in his previous ball, balanced himself after nearly falling over the line to complete a fine catch.
Kohli made 43 off 32 balls with the help of two sixes and a four.
The required run rate rose rapidly as RCB struggled to find the big overs, but de Villiers had other ideas.
Earlier, skipper Steve Smith’s counterattacking 36-ball 57 guided Rajasthan to 177 for six.
Smith struck six fours and one maximum before Chris Morris bowled a brilliant final over, conceding only four runs while taking two wickets to check RR from going past 180.
Fast-medium bowler Morris finished with excellent figures of 4/26 in four overs.
Earlier batting first, Rajasthan got to a competitive total thanks to valuable contributions from Robin Uthappa (41 off 22) and captain Steve Smith (57 off 36).
(With PTI inputs)
Source: IPLT20.com