Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Rahul Tewatia played a match-winning knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 26th match of the IPL 2020 on Sunday.
Tewatia smashed unbeaten 45 off just 28 balls as RR chased down the set target of 159 in the last over of the match.
After opting to bat first, SRH put on 158/4 in their stipulated overs. Manish Pandey top-scored with 54 runs while captain David Warner hit 48 off 38 balls. In reply, Khaleel Ahmed removed both the Rajasthan openers, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, in quick succession. Captain Seve Smith once again failed to impress as he got run out on 5 (6). Though Samson and Uthappa tried to rebuild the innings, it looked all over for RR at 78/5 in 12 overs.
But then Tewatia and Riyan Parag (42 not out) added 85 runs for the sixth wicket and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Tewatia was also named the ‘Player of the Match’ for his efforts.
However, during the final over, where the Sunrisers needed to defend eight runs, fast bowler Khaleel got involved in a heated altercation with Tewatia. They were seen firing verbal volleys at each other after the fourth delivery of the over.
There was a run-in between the two when Tewatia hit Khaleel’s delivery towards long-on for a single. And after the match ended, the matter only escalated. On-field umpires and the SRH skipper soon intervened to calm things down as he talked to Tewatia who was looking very animated.
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Later, during the post-match interview, Tewatia threw light on the matter and said: “No big deal, we just got taken away in the heat of the moment.”
