Young pacer Kartik Tyagi did the star turn on Tuesday night with an implausible final over that helped Rajasthan Royals pulled off a perfect heist agianst Punjab Kings in a 2-run win in match 32 of IPL 2021 here on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old pacer came up with five dots, including two wickets, while defending three runs in the decisive over despite Punjab Kings having two set batsmen in the middle in Aiden Markram (26* runs off 20 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (32 off 22).
Tyagi, who received the player of match award for his impeccable effort, said he finds himself fortunate to be part of such a special win of Rajasthan Royals.
“I have been talking to people over the years and they keep telling me that things keep changing in this format, so I need to keep believing,” said Tyagi at the post-match press conference. “I've always heard from everyone and also watched games in this format where strange things have happened. Today, I was fortunate to play a big role in something special.”
Tyagi, who retained a bowling figure of 2/29, said this win is close to his heart after a period when he had to sit out the first phase of the tournament in India due to an injury.
“I was injured during the India leg of the IPL and by the time I got fit, the tournament was suspended. Felt sad. So this feels really good.” he said.
RR skipper Sanju Samson also heaped praises on Tyagi for the over and praised his ability to bowl yorkers and delivering it to perfection in intense situations.
"Somewhere we had that fight left. We knew we had some special bowlers. Kept Mustafizur's overs for the end. Tyagi was confident with his yorkers, especially wide yorkers. Executed them well against the new batters,” Sanju said.
