Virender Sehwag hails Rahul Tewatia after his match winning spell against KKR

It was a dream debut for Rahul Tewatia in Kings XI Punjab colours as the leggie bagged a couple of crucial wickets in the same over against the Kolkata Knight Riders yesterday which helped Punjab keep their hopes alive in the tournament. Chasing 168 to win, KKR looked well in the course before Tewatia stalled their progress with twin strikes of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa which helped Punjab make a comeback.

Director of cricket operations in Punjab, Virender Sehwag hailed the young bowler after his match winning performance which saw Punjab winning the close encounter by 14 runs. His figures of 2/18 in his allotted 4 overs was instrumental behind Punjab’s exceptional come from behind victory. He bowled in the right areas and varied his pace brilliantly.

“Chaa gaya ladke, aise hee khelta reh. Yahi chaiye tujhse. Aaj khela tu apna game aur jeetaya” (You rocked with your performance today. Keep playing like this. This is what is required from you. Today you played your natural game and won the match for the team), Sehwag said to Tewatia after his exceptional performance.

“Viru Bhaiya is my mentor and also a role model. His appreciation means a lot to me. I was anticipating getting a game a long before. He knew I was getting desperate to make a mark. I am happy to have bowled to the plan and yielded results. After the powerplay, Viru Bhaiya and Glenn Maxwell wanted me to bowl a tight line and length and aim for wickets. Chris Lynn was plundering runs from all corners. Once Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were back to the pavilion, we exerted pressure tactics, the 23-year-old was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Tewatia was also useful with the bat scoring an 8 ball 15 later in the innings to propel Punjab to 167. Meanwhile, Mohit Sharma who bagged the Man of the Match agreed to the fact that it was Tewatia’s spell which changed the course of the match.