Rahul Tewatia, the man who spun a web around MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020

Shane Watson was batting aggressively on 35 off 21 balls during Chennai Super Kings’ chase of 217 against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2020 clash in Sharjah. In six overs of the powerplay, Chennai Super Kings had made a solid start in response to the big score. However, Rahul Tewatia, the legspinner, changed the course of the match with some crucial strikes. It began in the seventh over itself when Shane Watson looked to go after the leggie.

Tewatia bowled a short googly on leg stump and Watson lined up for the pull. The ball skidded through low and hit the stumps as Watson fell for 35. When Shreyas Gopal got rid of Murali Vijay, Chennai Super Kings stumbled. Sam Curran hit a couple of sixes but in the ninth over, Tewatia had both Sam Curran and Ruturaj Gaikwad stumped. His spell of three wickets for 21 runs in three overs broke the back of MS Dhoni’s team and they struggled to recover.

Tewatia in IPL

Tewatia, the 27-year-old legspinner from Sihi in Haryana, has played 49 T20s and taken 33 wickets at an average of 18 and an economy rate of over 7. In the domestic circuit, he has played for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. Tewatiawas one of the surprise packages of the 2018 Indian Premier League auctions. The base price of the 24- year old-leg-spinner was just Rs 10 Lakhs. But within minutes the price soar to a massive 2.5 Crores. His previous team Kings11 Punjab were after him but eventually, Delhi Daredevils bought him at 3 Crores. In the last edition, he was picked ahead of the veteran Amit Mishra by the Delhi franchise. Initially, the moved seemed justified but soon his performances dipped.

After a struggle in IPL 2019, Tewatia has repaid the faith in Rajasthan Royals and he ended up getting the crucial strikes which gave Steve Smith’s side a big win.