Bengaluru, Sept. 27: When Rahul Tewatia came in to bat the Rajasthan Royals were decently-placed in their chase against the Kings XI Punjab.
Skipper Steve Smith and Sanju Samson had built the Royals innings after Jos Buttler departed early. But Tewatia's arrival considerably slowed down the Royals' chase.
Tewatia, who had played for the Kings XI Punjab franchise earlier, looked at a loss when he came out to bat as he failed to connect bat to ball. His dismal start halted the Royals charge as the game slowly slipped away from the Rajasthan team.
Sanju Samson's departure looked like the final nail in the coffin as Tewatia failed to get his innings going. Just when the Royals looked out of the contest, Tewatia looked like a new man altogether as he finally clicked to score the much-needed runs.
Tewatia broke free in Sheldron Cottrell's over and the match turned on its head. While earlier, netizens wanted Tewaria to retire hurt because of his abysmally slow innings, the same fans lauded the cricketer for his stunning turnaround, that helped the Royals secure a record-breaking win:
Here's how netizens reacted to Tewatia's rampaging innings:
The greatest TROLL innings in the history of cricket . Not one person including me thought this was possible. Not one person backed him barring his team mates!! Kudos to Tewatia, @rajasthanroyals and the Sport!! #RRvKXIP
— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) September 27, 2020
The changing face of cricket:
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) September 27, 2020
223 for 2 in 20 overs
226 for 6 in 19.3 overs
Teams are making scores in 20 overs that were seen as respectable in 50 over cricket a few decades ago#Cricket
Mr @rahultewatia02 na bhai na 😅 thanks for missing one ball ! What a game congratulations to rr for a spectacular win !!! #RRvKXIP @mayankcricket great knock @IamSanjuSamson brilliant !
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) September 27, 2020
The Tewatia story will stay forever. What an insane turn around. I love human triumph. Sport is such a great teacher, we can write someone off but we can’t erase them! Wow. So happy with what we got to see. Incredible lesson for life.
— Danish Sait (@DanishSait) September 27, 2020
This is my favourite ever innings in any cricket match ever
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) September 27, 2020
Tewatia doing the cricket equivalent of Mohammad Ali vs George Foreman in 1974.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) September 27, 2020
Outstanding come back from #tewatia wasn’t easy for him bad choice of lengths certainly helped him #welldone #IPLinUAE
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 27, 2020
What. A. Game!!!!! @IPL 🤷🏼♂️🔥
— Sam Billings (@sambillings) September 27, 2020
Jo RR fans Tewatiya k ko bhejne k liye rr kar rahe the
— Ankit Mishra (@editedidea) September 27, 2020
Kahan chup gaye ab?
Terrific batting by @rajasthanroyals’ batsmen Smith, Sanju & Tewatia to chase this mega total.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) September 27, 2020
They kept their cool and accelerated beautifully.
Surprised how the @lionsdenkxip fast bowlers didn’t bowl many yorkers and also failed to use M Ashwin enough. #RRvKXIP #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/f52wF11uig