"I always loved batting even though I was a leg-spinner from the start of my career"- Rahul Tewatia

Rahul Tewatia has opined that his batting skills have helped him to make progress in his career. The all-rounder started off as a leg-spinner but later worked on his batting. According to Tewatia, scoring runs with the willow is his most significant plus point now.

The 27-year-old made his T20 debut in 2014. It took him six years to make his mark in the IPL, but his moment arrived last season when he played a couple of game-changing knocks for the Rajasthan Royals.

This year, the BCCI named Rahul Tewatia in the Indian squad for the T20I series against England. Explaining how shifting his focus to batting led to his rise, Rahul told Khaleej Times:

“I always loved batting even though I was a leg-spinner from the start of my career. But I really enjoyed my batting. Then when I got into the Haryana team which had so many quality spinners, my batting became my plus point. So I worked really hard on my batting. I felt that my batting will help me climb up the ladder. That’s why I really worked hard on my batting.”

Rahul Tewatia has played 68 T20 matches in his career so far. The left-handed batsman has aggregated 965 runs at a 150+ strike rate. Besides, he has also taken 42 wickets at an economy rate of 7.06.

Rahul Tewatia credits IPL for his maiden national call-up

Rahul Tewatia scored 251 runs in IPL 2020

Rahul Tewatia also pointed out how he had been performing well in domestic cricket, but he earned the selectors' attention only after IPL 2020. Tewatia was one of the few bright spots for the Rajasthan Royals in a season where they finished last.

Speaking about IPL's significance in his maiden national call-up, Rahul added:

“I was playing well in domestic white-ball cricket, but when I made an impact with the bat and also helped Rajasthan Royals win matches with my bowling at the IPL last year, that made a big difference."

Rahul Tewatia can’t wait to share the same dressing room with Virat Kohli after being included in India’s T20I squad for the England series 🤩🇮🇳#INDvsENG #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/RjByv24Cf3

— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) February 21, 2021

It will be interesting to see if Tewatia receives his maiden international cap during the upcoming India vs England T20I series.