The GT vs PBKS on Friday turned out to be the most thrilling encounter of IPL 2022. Courtesy of Shubman Gill's brilliance and Rahul Tewatia's last over heroics, Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings ended with Hardik Pandya & Co. winning the match by 6 wickets on the last ball of the over. With its win on the PBKS, Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans remained undefeated and moved to the second spot of the IPL 2022 points table with 3 out of 3 wins.
GT vs PBKS turned out to be a thrilling encounter as in the last over Hardik Pandya-led squad needed 19 runs with Odean Smith bowling for Punjab. Although the first ball was wide, GT lost Hardik Pandya on the second ball when he tried to steal a run. As soon as the wicket of Hardik Pandya fell, almost every fan thought that the curtains have fallen for Gujarat. However, then Rahul Tewatia arrived and snatched the victory from Punjab Kings' jaws.
On the last two balls of the over, Gujarat Titans needed 12 runs and Rahul Tewatia held his nerves to win the match for his team. Odean Smith tried to go for wide yorkers, however, miserably failed to hit the length. As a result, Rahul Tewatia smacked both the balls for a huge and ensured the third victory for the Gujarat Titans. Rahul Tewatia's heroics also registered his name in the elite list in which only MS Dhoni was present earlier. As per cricket statistician and online cricket expert Johns, Rahul Tewatia became only the second player in the history of IPL after MS DHoni to win the match for his team when it requested 12 runs on last two balls.
Also Read: IPL 2022: Rahul Tewatia hits two sixes in two balls as Gujarat beat PBKS in thriller (ld)
Apart from this, Tewatia also became the fourth player to win the match for his team when at least 5/6 runs were required on the last ball:
Dwayne Bravo off Rajat Bhatia, Kolkata 2012
MS Dhoni off Axar Patel, Vizag 2016
KS Bharat off Avesh Khan, Dubai 2021
Rahul Tewatia off Odean Smith, Mumbai 2022*****