Riyan Parag is from Assam and his father Parag Das played Ranji .. .. and what a match today for him to be remembered .. an unbroken partnership of 85 and the winning six over cover boundary smacking Khaleel Ahamed in the 26th match of IPL 2020 at Dubai now.
A great moment for RR were chasing 159 and were 78/5 after 12 with big names – Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Joss Buttler, Robin Uthappa and Sanju Samson all back !! Last ball of 12th over – Sanju Samson was caught by Bairstow of Rashid khan and it did look all over when Rahul Tewatia joined Riyan Parag – the pair had different thoughts.
We have seen 100s of matches and many fairytale finishes .. .. there was a time in 1980s when score of close to 200 (in 50 overs) was considered defendable and score of 240+ - certain win !! .. .. never in life, one would have imagined the hero being a player who had just played 21 matches till the game, had aggregated 121 runs – having hit 4 sixers in all – would make the Cricket world sing paens on him !! – he is a leg-spinner bowling allrounder !!
Perhaps before 10 pm on 27.9.2020, he was trolled as badly or more than what Murali Vijay has been receiving – he himself had to say – ‘that was the worst first 20 balls that I have ever played. I was hitting the ball very good in the nets, so I had belief in myself and kept going’ – natural that people would mock him.Leg-spin bowling all-rounder Rahul Tewatia was traded to Rajasthan Royals from Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2020. It’s a homecoming of sorts for Tewatia, who had made his IPL debut with RR in 2014! ~ ever heard him before.
The cricketing world, onthat Sunday, perhaps watched the greatest turnaround in a player’s fortune thanks to Rahul Tewatia’s stunning match-winning knock for Rajasthan Royals against Kings XI Punjab.Rahul Tewatiabatting on 17 off 23 balls changed the destiny in one over of Cottrell, hitting five sixes to script a stunning come-from-behind win for his side by four wickets. He hit one more six to reach his fifty off 30 balls before departing in the 19th over. Tom Curran then hit a four to take the Royals home with three balls remaining.
There were expectations following that – and Tewatia lived up to them.End of over 15 – Rajasthan Royals were 94/5 – 675 needed off 30 balls.
Riyan Parag raised hopes hitting a massive 97 meter six off Khaleel.Next over off Sandeep Sharma – knuckle ball disappeared for a six hit by Rahul Tewatia, followed by 2 – 1-Parag – 4-4-1.Rashid Khan had been played with lot of respect by most International batsman but Tewatia smacked 3 continuous fours and total of 14 runs – yet it boiled down to gettable 22 off 12. Tewatia hit a 4 and six in that over getting it closer and it was all over when Riyan Parag hoisted Khaleel for that huge six !
Great display by these 2 youngsters and by the team management in trusting them
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
11.10.2020 @ 07.30 pm.
