Watch: Rahul Tewatia smashed two sixes off the last two deliveries of the IPL 2022 clash between Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans to hand his team an incredible win.
Sign up to bet365 across the IPL, to be entered into a draw for the chance to win a Wisden poster of your choice, terms and conditions apply, more information here. 18+ begambleaware.org
Needing 190 for their third successive win in the tournament, Gujarat were well placed at 133-1 in 14.3 overs, needing another 57 runs in 33 deliveries with well-set batters Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarsan at the crease. However, Punjab Kings came back strongly into the game, reducing the equation to 19 runs needed off the last over, to be bowled by Odean Smith with David Miller and Hardik Pandya out in the middle. In a bid to get on strike for the last five deliveries, Hardik, who was batting on 27 off 17, tried to run a tight single but was run out after an excellent throw by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
It left Tewatia with 19 runs ahead of him, but he could only slice the second ball of the over for a single. Miller smashed the next ball for a four, leaving Gujarat to get 13 in the last three deliveries. Smith’s fourth ball could have been a dot after Miller hit one back to the bowler, but Smith tried to run out Tewatia by throwing at the stumps. The ball missed its target, and what should have been no run was eventually a single, with Tewatia on strike for the last two balls with 12 needed for a win.
What followed was unexpected – although Tewatia has made a habit of completing the seemingly impossible – as he first smashed a ball that was right in the slot over deep mid-wicket, and then hacked the very next delivery over cow corner to finish things off in style. Tewatia, who had earlier made 40* in 24 balls against Lucknow Super Giants this season, became only the second cricketer to finish off an IPL match by hitting two sixes in the last two balls.
MS Dhoni, who had achieved the feat against Punjab’s Axar Patel in 2016, remains the first.
