IPL 2020: Tewatia recalls carnage, Smith expresses delight & KL Rahul notes his learnings

Reflecting upon his initial stage of batting against Punjab, Rahul Tewatia remarked that they were the 'worst first 20 balls' that he has ever played. The batting all-rounder was promoted up the order in the high-octane chase on Sunday. However, Tewatia found it difficult to go big initially and mistimed his shots frequently. 

After a series of initial mishits, Tewatia announced his arrival on style as he smacked Sheldon Cottrell for 5 huge maximums in an over. The all-rounder also registered his half-century off 30 deliveries and played an instrumental cameo in guiding Rajasthan past the line. 

"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. I was not hitting the ball well initially, I saw in the dug-out, everybody was curious because they know that I can hit the ball long. I thought I had to believe in myself. It was a matter of one six, after that, I got going. Five in an over went amazing. Coach sent me to hit sixes off the leg-spinner, but unfortunately, I didn't hit him. Ultimately, I hit off the other bowlers," said Tewatia. 

'That was some chase!'

Skipper Steve Smith too fell in line to heap praise upon Tewatia as he stunned the world of cricket with his blitzkrieg. Smith reckoned that even three sixes off Cottrell would have got Rajasthan back in the team and that he thought the team would be chasing 250 at some point. 

"That was some chase! Tewatia, that was some sort of display against Cottrell. We got an idea about the conditions here in the last game. It's a small ground, we always thought if we have wickets in the shed we always have a chance. Samson is hitting sixes at will at the moment. We saw in the nets that he was hitting the ball like he did in that over to Cottrell. Credit to him," said the winning-skipper. 

"Okay to have one bad game'

Despite scoring a brilliant half-century and continuing his form, KL Rahul landed on the other side of victory and noted his lessons from the game. The skipper was not upset with the defeat credited Rajasthan for their performance. Highlighting that it is okay to have a bad game, Rahul said, " Look, this is T20 cricket, we have seen it so many years now, we did a lot of things right, we have to keep our chin up and come back stronger. A lot of positives tonight, we did a lot of things right, but such things do happen, great game of cricket, we have to give it to them (Rajasthan)." 

"The game keeps you humble all the time, I honestly did think we had the game in our pocket. Towards the end they batted well and put pressure on our bowlers which led to mistakes. I back them to do the job, they have done well in the last two games, it's okay to have one bad game. It's good that this came early in the tournament, they will only learn from this and come back strongly," Rahul added. 

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