Birthday special: Rahul Tewatia – A promising all-rounder waiting for his turn
Rahul Tewatia has been plying his trade in the Indian domestic circuit since 2013, but he didn’t play regularly. In the last eight years, the 27-year-old has played a mere seven first-class matches, 23 List A matches and 75 T20 games. However, 2020 turned out to be a breakthrough year for him as he came to the limelight while playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
It was a game where he turned his fortunes around after not such a great start to his knock. At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the left-handed batter showed the damage he can do. Against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), now Punjab Kings, the Royals then led by Steve Smith, chased down the massive score of 224 with three balls to spare courtesy of a batting master-class from the Haryana-born Tewatia.
In the first half of his knock, he strained to get the ball away. But in the 18th over, he smashed left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell for 30 runs including five sixes. He ended up with 53 runs off 31 balls with seven sixes. Though Sanju Samson won the Player of the Match, it was Tewatia, who hogged the limelight. Overall, he had a magical campaign for his team, though the Royals finished last.
Tonight’s game and Tewatia’s innings is what makes the sport of Cricket and IPL special.
Nobody had thought Tewatia would finish this way after being very uncomfortable at start.
Hats off to Tewatia to prove everyone wrong ??
Will be remembered forever ??#IPL2020
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) September 27, 2020
Rahul Tewatia coming up the ranks
In the 2020 IPL, he managed to score 255 runs at an average and strike rate of 42.50 and 139.34 respectively. He also played a decent knock against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. With the ball in hand, he turned out to be the joint second-highest wicket-taker for RR with 10 wickets at an economy rate of 7.08. Shreyas Gopal also got 10 wickets.
Due to his impressive show, he earned his maiden call-up for the home T20Is against England back in March. However, he couldn’t get to play in the series after failing to pass a fitness test. He would now be eager to stake a claim back in the national reckoning.
Later this year, India are set to host the T20 World Cup and Tewatia would be eying to stake a claim in the team. Bearing in mind the skills he has, Tewatia making a debut for Team India can’t be ruled out by any means.
