Rahul Tewatia played a match-winning knock once again as he along with Riyan Parag helped Rajasthan beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets.
Chasing 159 runs to win, Rajasthan was down in the dumps, having lost half the side for just 78 runs on the board. However, Tewatia along with Parag dug deep and changed the course of the game to hand the Royals a much-needed win.
"This was the role given to me and it was clear from a long time. I was batting well for a while and I was confident and was hitting them well when we played practice games. So it's easy when you know your role. The wickets were falling so I just wanted to hold one end up and wait for the boundary balls," Tewatia said.
"I knew if I keep my self-belief and take it deep, I could pull it off. I told Riyan that the wicket was playing slow and the deeper we take it, the better our chances, even if we needed 50 off the last 4 because we have the shots," he added.
During the final moments of the game, there was a war of words between Tewatia and Khaleel Ahmed but the batsman played down the incident.
"The Khaleel incident, no big deal, we just got taken away in the heat of the moment," he said.
Winning skipper Steve Smith praised the young duo of Tewatia and Parag.
"I thought Rahul and Riyan as a young kid showed great composure. Stokesy obviously didn't come off tonight. Or top four didn't fire, but today showed our depth. With Stokesy back it brings a nice balance to us. He's been impressive, hasn't he? Just thrives in pressure situations. You bring in his bowling and fielding to it and he's a terrific player for us," Smith said.
"I don't think it was the easiest wicket and the square boundaries are quite big too. So great composure from Parag. Proud that he could come back in and score some runs straight up," the skipper added.
Losing skipper David Warner defended his decision to hold Rashid Khan back as the leg-spinner came at the back end of the innings with two set batsmen at the crease.
"Couldn't get across the line there but it happens in cricket. Holding Rashid back, we've done it in the past, we've held him back and tr and nullify some runs, but these two played exceptionally well. Tonight we probably - we didn't mis-execute, but some of the decisions at the top of the mark weren't there. And we probably bowled the wrong ball at the time. Lots of positives coming out and we'll take it on to the next game."
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