Cricket is just weird game and this match is just another evidence for that. From nowhere, we had Rahul Tewatia taking his Royals home. Now, Tewatia began his career with the Royals and is kind of homecoming for him after travelling to different places. Today, he won them all for him.
The Royals sent Punjab to bat first and we had the Agarwal show. Even Rahul was overshadowed today and such was Agarwal’s hitting. A massive score of 106 from 50 deliveries while Rahul played the second fiddle, scored 69 from 54. Some tiny cameos from Maxwell and Pooran took Punjab to a massive 223.
Of course, with the return of Buttler and shorter boundaries, one would have thought that the Royals had a chance. However, Punjab dismissed Buttler early and Samson once again had to shoulder the responsibility. He had the captain Smith for his help. The duo once again built a massive foundation and Smith got out after scoring 50. The team decided to act fresh and had Tewatia coming before everyone.
Tewatia visibly struggled and ate deliveries while adding more pressure on Samson. At one point, Samson even refused to give him the strike. A few deliveries later, Samson took on Maxwell scoring 20+ runs in the over. But it wasn’t enough, the team needed more than 16 runs per over at that time. A few calm deliveries later, we witnessed something phenomenal from Tewatia.
Five sixes. Five sixes off Cottrell’s bowling and totally won it back. He then had one more before ending with 31-ball 53. Royals then had Archer smashing a couple of sixes and the team finished it off in the final over.
