Rahul Tewatia’s miracle finish expectedly finds a place right at the top. The final over of their 190 chase began with Titans needing 19. A set Hardik Pandya at the crease along with David Miller meant they still had a fair chance of getting there.
But it only got worse before it got better: after a wide to start from Odean Smith, Pandya was run-out off the first legal ball of the over. With the equation down to 13 required off three balls, an avoidable overthrow from Smith brought Tewatia on strike. Down to 12 to get off the final two deliveries, the Forecaster gave Titans an 8.07% chance of winning, before Tewatia – not for the first time – did the job against Kings.
Super Kings required 17 to win from the final over with four wickets in hand. Dwaine Pretorius had taken two key boundaries off Jasprit Bumrah’s 19th over. MS Dhoni was batting on 12 off nine balls, but importantly, he boasted of a strike rate above 230 against Jaydev Unadkat, whow as to bowl the final over. All this combined to give CSK a 22.27% chance of victory.
With Unadkat trapping Pretorius lbw first ball, and the incoming Dwayne Bravo taking a single, the Forecaster fell below 7% for the defending champions. Enter Dhoni with 16 to get off four balls. First a six and four took Super Kings’ chances up to 20.47%; it then slipped to 15.69 with four needed off the final ball, but the ultimate finisher finished things off.