Writers have often compared ‘classic’ Test matches to five-act plays. It is perhaps not a stretch, given how many times a match alters course over five days of cricket. Fifty-over cricket, while still not there, often tends to invade that sacred territory of the ‘classic’ with the occasional close finish.
Not T20. Despite its utility and immense popularity, memories of matches and individual performances are often restricted to fans of the individual or the team. Puritans would tell you how all matches feel similar, how they follow a pattern, particularly in a long league. When pundits discuss great cricketing performances, they almost always restrict themselves to the two longer formats.
Perhaps that is why Rahul Tewatia’s 53 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) at Sharjah in IPL 2020 is merely remembered, and not revered. Tewatia was struggling that day. He had crawled to 17 off the first 23 balls he faced.
Rajasthan Royals, having set out to chase 224, needed 51 in three overs. Tewatia’s struggle had been among the reasons the asking rate had soared to 17.
We know what followed. Tewatia hit five sixes off Sheldon Cottrell. Mohammed Shami got Robin Uthappa at the other end, but Jofra Archer hit two sixes, and Tewatia one more – to bring up his fifty. A seven-ball mini-innings that included six sixes, a redemption that lasted less than ten minutes but was enough to alter the course of an entire match.
Not quite the four-thousand-page epic but the hard-hitting one-page short story that jolts you.
Even if Tewatia had done nothing else, that one innings should have been enough to earn him a place in T20 cricket’s Hall of Fame. But he has done more.
Two weeks after the match, Rajasthan were chasing 159 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai. A middle-over burst from Rashid Khan reduced them to 78/5. Tewatia walked out to join 18-year-old Riyan Parag. The ‘yet to bat’ list included Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, and Kartik Tyagi.
Parag and Tewatia stayed put. The target came down to 36 in three overs, not as steep as the Punjab match but with fewer wickets in hand. Rashid was bowling his last over. Parag ran a single. The stage was set. Tewatia had to make up his mind between playing out the over and taking on Rashid.
Tewatia switch-hit the first ball he faced past backward point for four. Rashid responded with a googly on middle stump. Tewatia switch hit for four more. David Warner intervened. The gap needed to be closed. Deep extra cover ran to deep backward point.
Rashid continued. Tewatia lofted the ball over extra cover into the now-vacant space. Tewatia had forced Warner to move the fielder who was there a ball ago. Three consecutive fours through planned, calculated hitting against a legend of the format.
The job was not done. T Natarajan, the man who bowls yorkers at will, tried to cramp Tewatia with one on leg stump. Tewatia made room and beat mid off for four. Natarajan went for the yorker again. Tewatia shuffled to scoop over fine leg for six. Ten runs against two balls of the same length through exactly opposite areas.
In 2020, Tewatia faced more balls and scored more runs than he had between all of 2014 and 2019. He also bowled more (20 balls a match) at a slightly better economy rate than before. From a fringe player, he had become indispensable at Rajasthan Royals.
Unfortunately, 2021 was not the same. With Ben Stokes making a solitary appearance, Tewatia became one of several all-rounders and ‘bits-and-pieces players’ (along with Parag, Shivam Dube, Mahipal Lomror, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal) in Rajasthan’s strategy.
In what turned out to be an ordinary season for both man and team, Tewatia ended up becoming one of four cricketers to play all 14 matches. Of the all-rounders, no one played even 12.
Despite that, Rajasthan did not retain him ahead of the next season. In fact, of their many all-rounders, they retained only Parag. Their focus had shifted to specialists. Gujarat Titans acquired Tewatia for INR 9 crore.
Tewatia’s IPL career had started in 2014, but for the first time he was looked upon as a batter. His bowling was considered optional. He has bowled a mere three overs in his first three matches on grounds where dew plays a major role.
It might not have been possible without Gujarat’s incredible depth in bowling and relatively thin batting line-up. In a more rounded squad, Tewatia might have batted lower down the order and bowled more. But here, he fitted into the role seamlessly.
One wonders whether Tewatia had deja vu of that Sunrisers match when he walked out at 78/4 after Gujarat needed to chase 159 against Lucknow Super Giants. As with that night, he had a word with his partner – David Miller instead of Parag – and took the chase until the end.
Tewatia top scored with an unbeaten 40 in 24 balls. As the dew made it difficult for the spinners, Tewatia targeted Ravi Bishnoi, reverse-sweeping him for six and sweeping him for two fours in the same over. Bishnoi had conceded 17 in his first three overs: that number was doubled.
After an eight-ball 14 against Delhi Capitals, Tewatia came to bat against Punjab, his old foes, with five balls to go. Gujarat needed 18. Tewatia got a run, Miller put one away, and Odean Smith overthrew – all of which left Tewatia to hit twelve runs off the last two balls.
The odds were stacked heavily against Tewatia. Playing for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016, MS Dhoni had hit Axar Patel of Punjab for two sixes to seal a match – the only such incident in the first 892 IPL clashes.
On Friday night, Tewatia became the second, to achieve it.
Almost 29 but still without an international cap, Tewatia has pulled off the unthinkable twice in three seasons – feats memorable enough to bury his other performances. How many more to follow, one cannot help but wonder.
Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketNews and co-author of Sachin and Azhar at Cape Town.