Ahmedabad, April 4 Jofra Archer was originally scheduled to bowl the 20th over of the innings, but Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag, at the insistence of his deputy Dhruv Jurel, made an instinctive decision to have the England fast bowler bowl the 19th over, with Tushar Deshpande bowling the final over.
This turned out to be a pivotal moment in Deshpande's career, which had been plagued by injuries, as he defended 10 runs by conceding only four and restricting GT to 204 for 8 in their pursuit of a victory target of 211.
"Riyan changed his mind. He was going to bowl the 19th, and I was going to bowl the last. Everything that could have gone right in the field, went right, and I'm proud of the boys," Archer said after the game, having himself conceded only five runs in the penultimate over.
On his part, captain Riyan credited Jurel for the strategic shift.
"I was actually going to switch the order, but credit to Jurel – he asked me to go with Jofra for the 19th. We wanted to bowl as fast and as straight as possible," the RR captain said.
"It was just incredible. We took a chance – to bowl full and fast, and the boys delivered. I was so excited that they executed the way they wanted," Riyan added.
Archer, himself one of the best exponents of hard length and yorker deliveries, was full of praise for Deshpande, who executed the yorker deliveries perfectly.
"Practice and a game can be two different things. It's all about adapting."
Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada had brought GT close to victory, but the stand-in captain made a catch that was caught by Archer in the deep.
"Initially, when he hit it, I thought it was going to be a six. I just ran and hoped for the best, and thankfully it went in," Archer said.
On the pitch on offer on Saturday, Archer reckoned that slowing down the pace wasn't an option, and hence both he and Deshpande bowled at full tilt.
"One day, we will have to bowl at a faster pace, and on other days, we will have to bowl at a slower pace. Slower balls weren't staying in, so we had to bowl at a faster pace," he said.
Rashid said that it was a great effort from his bowlers to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 210 for 6, but his team was a bit short with the bat, losing momentum in the middle.
"Well, I think, we bowled really well, especially the way they have started to restrict them to under 210. I think it was a great effort on this wicket by the bowlers. And then we started really well with the bat too. I felt we gave a great start with the openers. And then I felt in the 12th and 13th overs, we lost back-to-back wickets," he said.
"That's something that really put us on the back foot. But I think, if they were there, it wasn't that hard to score, but I think in that period of time, we just lost the momentum of the game. Well, I feel, on a wicket like this, 9-10 runs per over is not that hard to achieve," he said.
Rashid said that GT were on course for a win but lost momentum midway.