This Indian Premier League we have witnessed a number of close finishes. The match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals was another one of them as Rajasthan Royals complete a successful chase by chasing a target of 159 set by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
SRH captain David Warner and Manish Pandey’s vital knock wasn’t enough as Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag complete the chase in the end overs. A match what looked like in Sunsrisers Hyderabad’s favour until the 16th oversaw a major turn of events resulting in Rajasthan Royals winning the match.
It all started at the toss where Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Both sides had a number of changes, though the most significant one being the return of Benjamin Stokes for Rajasthan Royals.
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Batting first Sunsiers Hyderabad posted a total of 158 runs at the end of 20 overs. David Warner’s 48 and Manish Pandey’s fifty ensured SRH reach a respectable total despite a slow start to the innings.
Rajasthan Royals End Four Match Losing Streak
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals made a shocking decision to send Ben Stokes to open. What turned out to be a failed gamble as Stokes was dismissed very early on in the innings. Followed by which Steve Smith and Jos Buttler too lost their wickets as once again Rajasthan Royals lost three wickets in the powerplay. It looked all over for the Rajasthan Royals as Sanju Samson and Robin Uthappa stitched a mini partnership which again came to an unfortunate end.
Well, a lot was expected of Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag but by all means, we assumed that Sunrisers Hyderabad have this win under their belt. But it was the vital partnership of Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag that ensured that Rajasthan Royals get passed that 158 run mark as they chased down the total with one ball to spare.
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Incident With Khaleel Ahmed No Big Deal – Rahul Tewatia
The man of the match of today’s match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals is Rahul Tewatia for his star cracking finish in the death. At the post-match presentation, Rahul Tewatia said that he has been given the role of the finisher by the Rajasthan Royals team management.
He said he was confident while batting and knew he could hit the long ball. Tewatia wanted to hold on till the end as the wickets were falling at the other end.
“This was the role given to me and it was clear for a long time. I was batting well for a while and I was confident and was hitting them well when we played practice games. So it’s easy when you know your role. The wickets were falling so I just wanted to hold one end up and wait for the boundary balls. I knew if I keep my self-belief and take it deep, I could pull it off,” Rahul Tewatia.
Furthermore, Rahul Tewatia revealed that he communicated to Riyan that the wicket was playing slow which is why they decided to let go of the good balls and take the match as deep as possible. Rahul sensed the opportunity to attack Rashid and went after him with those reverse sweeps.
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In the end, he cleared the air between him and Khaleel Ahmed saying that they just got caught in the heat of the moment.
“I told Riyan that the wicket was playing slow and the deeper we take it, the better our chances, even if we needed 50 off the last 4 because we have the shots. Riyan asked me what to do – I told him to respect the good balls and take singles, and I could take on the attack. Against Rashid, I saw the opportunity to play the reverse sweep and took it. [The Khaleel incident] No big deal, we just got taken away in the heat of the moment,” Tewatia concluded.