Rahul Tewatia’s last-over heroics prop Gujarat Titans to thrilling win

Rahul Tewatia smacked two sixes off the last two balls to seal the match for Gujarat Titans against Punjab Kings by 6 wickets in the 16th match of IPL 2022 at Brabourne Stadium here on Friday. Sent in to bat, Punjab posted 189 for 9 riding high on Liam Livingstone’s 64 runs off 27 balls, designed with 7 boundaries and 4 sixes. It was a dream win for Gujarat. Tewatia (13 not out off 3 balls) did not let up. Having a reputation for hitting sixes at will, Tewatia faced up to the challenge once again, but this time with just two balls at his disposal and 12 runs to score. Tewatia smashed Odean Smith for two mighty sixes that lit the entire Gujarat dressing room and some of them ran onto the field with David Miller (6 not out) throwing off his helmet, and the hero was mobbed by ecstatic teammates. Smith tried to run Tewatia out off the fourth ball of the over when there was no such possibility, an effort proved costly with an overthrow. Shubman Gill, who was given good company by Sai Sudarshan, set the chase for Gujarat. The opener smashed 96 off 59 balls and shared a 101-run partnership with debutant Sudarsan (35). Arshdeep Singh and Rahul Chahar bowled brilliantly towards the end to pull things back and not let Gujarat run away with this as it looked like at one stage. Nobody’s going to remember any of that. Tewatia will not let them. Gujarat were in the hunt in the 17th over. Hardik Pandya (27 off 16) spanked Chahar through point and then one down the ground. But in the same over, Kagiso Rabada could not make enough ground from backward square leg to grab the catch. Hardik was the one who escaped. It was 37 from three overs after 17 as fans were in for a humdinger. In the 18th over, Arshdeep used the angle and mixed up his lengths to give away just five runs and Rabada followed it up by dismissing well-set Grill for 96 in the penultimate over. Earlier, Livingstone’s scintillating fifty took Punjab to 189/9. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Punjab continued to play with intent and posted a good total. To start off, Punjab did not get the flow and early wickets of Mayank Agarwal (5) and Jonny Bairstow (8) did not help, but Livingstone got going with support from Jitesh Sharma (23 off 11 balls) and Shahrukh Khan (15 off 8 balls). The trio looked to push Punjab’s total past 200 plus, but lost wickets just when it was time for acceleration. From 153 for 5, they slumped to 162 for 9, making fans think that their team would fold up quickly thereafter. But Rahul Chahar (22 not out off 14 balls) and Arshdeep (10 not out off 5 balls) accepted the challenge and posted invaluable 27 runs off just 13 balls, thereby restoring some momentum back for Punjab while heading into the break. For Gujarat, Rashid Khan snared three wickets, while Darshan Nalkande bagged two wickets. (UNI)