Hetmyer’s Heroics Lead Rajasthan Royals to Thrilling 3 Wickets Victory
Shimron Hetmyer emerged as the hero in a nail-biting encounter as Rajasthan Royals secured a hard-fought victory against Punjab Kings in a low-scoring thriller.
Despite Curran’s outstanding 19th over and Arshdeep’s solid performance, Hetmyer led the Royals home with an undefeated ten-ball 27.
Punjab Kings 147 for 8 (Ashutosh 31, Jitesh 29, Maharaj 2-23) were defeated by Rajasthan Royals 152 for 7(Jaiswal 39, Hetmyer 27*, Rabada 2-18) by three wickets.
With the Rajasthan Royals needing 35 from 20, Shimron Hetmyer entered the game. Considering that Punjab Kings’ 147 for 8 felt at least ten runs too light on a pitch with some bounce but no known witchcraft applied to it, perhaps it shouldn’t have gotten this close. Additionally, it appeared from the Royals’ own strong, if not raging, 56-run opening stand that they weren’t worried.
However, Kagiso Rabada bowled his four overs for eighteen, and all of a sudden the match was tight in the latter stages. Rabada was doing as much as any player for the Kings to create a game-winning hand because he had also claimed two significant wickets, that of Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
But Hetmyer had the last say, winning with a six off the penultimate ball despite a superb penultimate over from Sam Curran and a solid effort from Arshdeep Singh. Hetmyer had already given up two sixes before that.
Kings’ Awful Performance
Kings never appeared to be able to get into high gear until the final two overs, when Impact Sub Ashutosh Sharma took advantage of a let-off to hit 20 off the final nine balls he faced. Every time it appeared that a partnership might be developing, a wicket fell. This happened frequently as a result of batters falling for cross-bat shots to short balls that became large on them. After the powerplay, they were 38 for 1, 53 for 4, and 86 for 5 after 15 overs.
From then on, Ashutosh, Rabada, and Curran performed admirably to turn this into such a close game.
Rabada In Charge
Rabada was fierce in defence of a small target. He bowled two tight powerplay overs in which just 12 runs were made. Then, with the Kings chasing wickets, he bowled aggressively in the middle overs. When the batsman jagged one back to hit the batter on the back leg, he took the valuable wicket of Royals captain Samson. He next dismissed Jaiswal with a short wide one that the batter toe-edged. Rabada only gave up two boundaries in his innings taken, which matched his total.
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The Last Over Drama
Curran gave up ten runs in the 19th over when he dismissed Keshav Maharaj and Rovman Powell, and the Royals needed another ten runs off the 20th over. It always looked plausible because Hetmyer was on strike, but Arshdeep struck two fantastic yorkers to start the batting sequence, which the hitter was unable to capitalize on, bringing the score down to 10 from four.
Hetmyer’s frantic smash down the ground off the third ball proved to be the crucial shot in the last over. This was not quite in the blockhole, but Arshdeep had not missed his length by much. With a powerful swing, Hetmyer was able to force this ball behind the bowler and into the boundary cushion rather than over it.
It was only centimeters. Hetmyer would not have been able to get beneath Arshdeep’s pitch if it had been a little bit fuller. If Hetmyer hadn’t struck it with a tad less force behind it, the shot would have only brought four, and the final three would have needed to bring six.
Hetmyer forcefully struck two off the next ball that was sent towards long-on, but the fifth ball in Arshdeep’s over was the worst, as practically anyone could have hit it for a boundary. This arrived on the stumps, juicy, and knee-high. Claiming a thriller, Hetmyer shuffled over and thwacked it over deep fine leg.
