Rahul Tewatia

There aren’t many things that would captivate an entire cricket-frenzy audience like hitting five sixes in an over would. And when such an effort leads the side to a win in a thrilling run-chase, it elevates the instigator into legend. Rahul Tewatia became an overnight sensation when he did just that in 2020. Already a seasoned campaigner by then, Tewatia, with his leg-spin and subtle lower-order contributions, had failed to leave a lasting impression up until that fateful game against the Punjab Kings. Tewatia walked in at No.4 with his team chasing 224 to and had a dreadful start to his innings. On 8 off 20 balls at one stage, when the asking rate was over 17, Tewatia looked down and out. But that’s when he unraveled a previously unseen dimension of his game. With his team needing 61 off the last three overs, Tewatia cut loose. From square leg to long-off, he carted Sheldon Cottrell around and struck five lusty blows to turn the game on its head. He’d eventually be dismissed for 53 off 31 but importantly, his team would go on to win the game by 4 wickets.

For any doubters, Tewatia showed it was no fluke or just a one-off. Picked up by the Gujarat Titans for a whopping INR 9 crore in 2022, Tewatia played a crucial role in their title-winning effort that year. Most notable was another thriller against the Punjab Kings where Tewatia, who’d faced just one ball with his side needing 12 off the last two, pulled off another miracle. A couple of other clutch knocks in run-chases firmly established Tewatia as a fearsome finisher.

Tewatia started his career as an old-fashioned leg-spinner. He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Haryana against Karnataka in 2013. Like many cricketers in the recent past, his breakthrough moment came in the IPL. He bowled a match-winning spell of 2/18 in his debut match for the Kings XI Punjab against KKR and smashed 15 runs off 8 balls in the same game. He was one of the surprise packages of the 2018 IPL auctions. The base price of the then 24 year-old leg-spinner was just Rs 10 Lakhs. But within minutes the price soared to a massive 2.5 Crores. His previous team Kings XI Punjab were after him but eventually, Delhi Daredevils bought him at 3 Crores. He had a couple of middling seasons at Delhi before being traded to RR in 2020.

By Anurag Hegde