Rajasthan Royals' Coach Reflects on Narrow Loss to KKR and Backs Shimron Hetmyer

Rajasthan Royals' Struggles Continue Against KKR

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 5: After a narrow defeat by just one run to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rajasthan Royals' batting coach Vikram Rathour acknowledged that the team struggled to perform cohesively, despite some standout individual efforts. He expressed confidence in Shimron Hetmyer, who has been facing challenges this season.

The match against the reigning champions KKR highlighted the ongoing frustrations for RR this season. Despite a commendable innings from captain Riyan Parag and explosive contributions from Shubham Dubey, the team fell just short, marking yet another close loss in Kolkata.

In the post-match press conference, Vikram stated, “This is the fourth match we could have won, but we didn’t. This season has been tough for us. Players like Riyan, Dhruv, Nitish, Sanju, Yashasvi, and Shimron have ample experience. Riyan put us in a position to win, but we conceded 15-20 extra runs.”

Regarding Hetmyer’s performance, he remarked, “Hetmyer is meant to be our finisher, but he hasn’t had a great season. He has previously excelled in both international and franchise cricket. Everyone can have off seasons, and unfortunately, this is his. I believe he will bounce back. Ideally, he should bat around the 13th-14th over, but since Hasaranga handles spin well, we opted to promote him.”

This season, the West Indies player has accumulated only 216 runs in 11 innings, averaging 21.60 with a strike rate nearing 147, including just one half-century.

Rathour also noted the absence of captain Sanju and pacer Sandeep Sharma due to injuries has impacted the team.

On the decision to part ways with former player Jos Buttler, who had a remarkable tenure with RR from 2018-2024, Rathour commented, “I wouldn’t call it a mistake; the management is satisfied with the six players we retained. We could only keep six.”

Reflecting on the team’s overall performance, he added, “Our batters have been scoring runs individually, and they practice well in the nets. However, we haven’t been able to perform collectively. Similarly, our bowling hasn’t clicked as a unit, despite some impressive individual performances. Our fielding has also been lacking. We have quality in our batting lineup, but we’ve struggled to finish games. This season has been challenging, but I’m confident we will emerge as a strong team in the next two seasons, learning from our experiences.”

In the match, KKR won the toss and chose to bat first. After a quick dismissal of Sunil Narine, a solid partnership between skipper Rahane and Gurbaz (who scored 35 off 25 balls) stabilized the innings. A crucial 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 off 31 balls) and Andre Russell (57* off 25 balls) accelerated the scoring, leading KKR to a total of 206/4 in their 20 overs.

Jofra Archer, Yudhvir Singh, Riyan, and Maheesh Theekshana each took a wicket for RR.

During the chase for 207 runs, RR found themselves at 71/5, but a remarkable 92-run partnership between captain Riyan Parag (95 off 45 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (29 off 23 balls) gave them hope. Despite late fireworks from Shubham Dubey (25* off 14 balls) and Jofra Archer (12 off 8 balls), RR fell just short, finishing at 205/8.

Varun Chakravarthy (2/32), Harshit Rana (2/41), and Moeen Ali (2/43) were the standout bowlers for KKR.