You just felt Rahul Tewatia is going to do it: Russel Arnold

Rahul Tewatia smashed two sixes off the final two deliveries to help the Gujarat Titans register an improbable six-wicket win over the Punjab Kings at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai. 

With 19 runs required off the final over, Odean Smith conceded seven of the first four deliveries to get the equation down to 12 off the two balls. However, the right-arm pacer erred in his line and length and was smashed by Tewetia for twin sixes to help the Titans get over the line. 

In an exclusive conversation with cricket.com, Russel Arnold shared insights on the match and said, " Rahul Tewatia, he has done that before. He has surprised lots of teams by winnings games from a position you would never give him a chance, and you just felt this guy is going to do it."

"The fourth ball where Smith threw to try and get a run out suddenly gave you the feeling that what has he done because, in such a situation, you hold onto the ball. It doesn't matter who is on strike or not because you basically bowl the other team out of the match."

You can't take anything away from Tewatia, he had just walked into bat, and he is an outstanding player. It is a game that ebbed and flowed, but it was an incredible finish," he further added. 

One of the highlights of today's encounter was the brutal batting display in the middle overs by the Punjab batters. They scored 109 runs in the middle phase of the innings to help the team lay a solid foundation for an onslaught in the back end of the innings. 

"They were up against a quality bowling unit and on a grassy pitch but they made the change as Bhanuka Rajapaksa has been their man in the powerplay. But, Liam Livingstone, how good was he. Incredible batting from him in the middle period. But once again, their tail is pretty long, and when you get to the last few overs with the likes of Rabada in, you're not going to get much. There was the Hardik Pandya catch that could have gone either way, but that is what adds to the excitement of the fans," he said. 

However, they were dented in the middle overs as Rashid Khan scalped three wickets for 22 runs in his quota of four overs to stem the flow of runs. 

"He picks up wickets every day, and he does not go for many runs. He picked up Livingstone off a short ball and what happens is because he does not give anything away to the batters; their eyes light up because they do not get a bad delivery. He also picked up the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan, which was very crucial in the context of the game to break that partnership," he said. 

The former Sri Lankan batter also heaped praises on Shubman Gill and his sublime 96 with the ball that set up the run chase. 

"Shubman Gill got them into the game, and if you can score close to 100 runs at that type of a strike rate, you are putting your team in a magnificent situation. 11 fours and six means that he was timing the ball really well and he was not slogging," he said. 

While Gill did not score a boundary in the last 16 deliveries of this innings, Russel believes it was down to the line and length bowled by the bowling unit of the Kings.  

"I think the line and length bowled to him was outstanding because initially, the bowlers bowled him short and wide outside the off stump, which allowed him to score freely," he concluded.