Rahul Tewatia said the Wankhede wicket was great and GT had the belief that they could win their IPL 2022 opener.
Rahul Tewatia revealed the idea was to take the game deep towards the end since the wicket was good for batting as Gujarat Titans kicked off their Indian Premier League (IPL) journey with a thrilling five-wicket win over fellow debutants Lucknow Super Giants on Monday.
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Chasing LSG’s 158/6, Gujarat Titans were in a spot of bother at 78/4 but Tewatia along with South African David Miller put 60 runs for the fifth wicket that proved the turning point to give Hardik Pandya a winning start to his captaincy debut at the Wankhede Stadium.
With 71 runs required in the final six overs, it was a matter of just one over that shifted the momentum towards Gujarat Titans after the Lucknow spinners tightened the noose. The game shifted in Gujarat’s favour in the 16th over when Tewatia and Miller combined for two fours and two sixes off Deepak Hooda.
“The wicket was so good that Miller and I were discussing that we would take it deep and it's a matter of just one over,” Tewatia, who remained unbeaten on 24-ball 40 said after the game. “After I hit that six with the reverse sweep, that got Bishnoi thinking,” he added.
However, Miller was dismissed with Gujarat needing 20 runs in the final two balls. Also plating his maiden IPL game, young Abhinav Manohar kept his cool to hit three fours in that pressure situation to take the game away from Lucknow.
“Abhinav (Manohar) is a clear striker of the ball, so I had full trust in him that he would come and play his shots straightaway. It’s a big thing to do it in your first game. I gave him the strike because I know he is a proper batter and can hit big shots” added Tewatia.
Meanwhile, Lucknow skipper KL Rahul too credited Tewatia and Manohar for the innings they played under pressure. “Credit to Tewatia and Abhinav as well,” he said. Earlier, Deepak Hooda and young Ayush Badoni hit fifties under pressure to steer Lucknow from 29/4 to 158/6.
“I think it was a phenomenal game. We know at the Wankhede the ball can do something initially. We couldn't have started the campaign in a better way. The win would have been great but a still a lot to learn from this,” said Rahul.
“We need to go back and practise a bit more with the wet ball. Credit to Tewatia and Abhinav as well. (On Ayush Badoni) He is the baby AB for us, From the first day he was batting, it was unbelievable. He can hit the ball 360 degrees,” signed off Rahul.