After enduring a poor run in the tournament, Shane Watson announced his comeback to form in the most endearing way, smashing 96 runs off 53 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Though the Australian former batsman missed out on his first century of this year’s IPL, having dismissed on 96, it was enough to give his side their eighth win in eleven matches in the tournament.
But How Rashid- Watson fight Happen?
Rashid watson fight : Before the match against Sunrisers on Tuesday, Shane Watson suffered failures in all ten matches CSK had played in the tournament. However, the team management kept faith in the all-rounder, who hadn’t been left out in any of the matches and it was in the eleventh match, when Dhoni and Co. reaped the reward in the form of a brilliant 96-run inning, helping CSK get back to the number one position in the points table.
Chasing a mammoth total of 175 runs at M.A Chidambaram, Watson faced his first thirteen deliveries cautiously, scoring just 10 runs. Come the fourteenth delivery, Watson smashed Khaleel Ahmed for a six and then a four and there was no stopping Watson after that.
He took on every SRH bowler, be it Sandeep Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, or Rashid Khan, smashing them for boundaries all around.
The Australian batsman brought up his first half-century in the tournament in just 34 deliveries.
The Rashid-Watson Fight
Having lost Faf Du Plessis early in the chase, the onus was on Suresh Raina and Shane Watson to chase the total and the duo was actually doing the job perfectly chase having made 60 runs in just seven overs. However, A Rashid Khan mystery was waiting ahead of them which was still needed to be solved if CSK wanted to win the match on Tuesday.
Much to everyone’s expectation, Rashid Khan foxed Suresh Raina with his leg-breaks and googlies. Raina failed to read the Afghanistan spinner and eventually got stumped in his second over of the innings, but what was waiting ahead was even more interesting.
The battle between Rashid Khan and Shane Watson on Tuesday has to be listed as one of the best rivalries in this year’s IPL.
Everything was going nicely in the chase before Rashid Khan brushed his shoulders against Watson’s in his first over in the second innings which eventually made matter worse for Afghanistan’s spinner only.
Touted as one of the best leg-spinners in the world, Rashid Khan was smashed a four and a six in his third over by a pumped Shane Watson, followed by a 15-run fourth over.
The Australian batsman collected 30 runs off Rashid Khan alone, including two sixes and two fours, facing as many as 12 deliveries.
Interestingly, Rashid Khan has bowled to Shane Watson in nine innings and hasn’t been able to take his wicket on a single occasion. Watson and Ambati Rayudu are in fact two of the three batsmen to have never been dismissed by Rashid Khan in T20s (MIN 30 BALLS FACED).
Perhaps, Rashid Khan will think twice before hurling abuses at the Australian cricketer the next time when both these players will be up against each other on the field.