Gujarat Titans' (GT) Rahul Tewatia after impressing with his match-winning batting skills grabbed eyeballs for pulling off a stunning catch in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi on Tuesday (April 4).
GT skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and invited DC to bat first. David Warner-led DC saw the top-order's struggles against GT's sharp bowling as they managed to post a below-par total of 162/8 on a spicy Feroz Shah Kotla track.
Mohammed Shami (3/41 in 4 overs) and Alzarri Joseph (2/29 in 4 overs) intimidated DC's top-order in the first 10 while Rashid Khan (3/31 in 4 overs) hardly faced any trouble while keeping the batters under check for the better part of the innings.
But what happened in the ninth over took everyone by surprise. On the third ball of the ninth over Alzarri Joseph bowled a short delivery to Rilee Rossouw. The star DC batter tried to fend the ball but ended up lifting the ball towards backward point where Tewatia was stationed. Tewatia, who was already standing a few yards inside the circle, dived forward to pull off a stunning catch.
The on field umpires checked with the the third umpire to review the catch with a pinch of doubt to find out whether the catch was clean or not. But in a replay, it was shown that Tewatia's fingers were well wrapped up around the ball to avoid any contact with the ground. Rossouw took the longest walk towards the pavilion after recording a golden duck.
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Rossouw's wicket came after David Warner's dismissal in the same over. Warner ended up chopping the delivery onto the stumps of Joseph's ball.
Had Axar Patel (36 off 22 balls) not used his long handle to good effect, even 150 would have looked a distant reality for DC.
Hardik dropped Vijay Shankar to bring in Sai Sudharsan in GT's playing XI. Gujarat also included David Miller in final XI in place of ruled out Kane Williamson. Meanwhile Rishabh Pant's replacement Abishek Porel made debut for DC as Rovman Powell dropped for Anrich Nortje.
“Going to bowl first. Not sure how the wicket is going to play. Obviously losing Kane - we're gutted. Especially for him. As a team we can manage, but gutted for him. Miller comes in for Kane. Sai Sudharsan comes in for Vijay. Not much talking in our team. Just about keeping things simple and focusing on controllables. Pitch looks fantastic. Dew might kick in later,” GT skipper Pandya said after the toss.
“Looks like a nice wicket. Have to come out with positive intent and post a good total. It's awesome. What a good turnout it is tonight. Hopefully we can make it our fortress. Anrich and Porel come in. Rovman misses out. It's a long tournament, going to be a few harsh calls,” DC captain David Warner said after the toss.
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