Hetmyer the hero as Royals take low-scoring thriller

Apr 14, 2024 Sports

Shimron Hetmyer emerged as the hero in Royals’ narrow win. (Associated Press)

ESPNcricinfo – Shimron Hetmyer came in with Rajasthan Royals needing 35 from 20. Perhaps it should never have got this close, given Punjab Kings’ 147 for 8 felt at least 10 runs too light, on a pitch that had some bounce, but no known witchcraft performed upon it. It had also seemed from Royals’ own solid – but not rampant – 56-run opening stand, that they weren’t sweating it.

But then Kagiso Rabada bowled his four overs for 18, and suddenly the back end of this match became tight. Rabada had taken two big wickets as well – those of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson – and as such was doing as much as many Kings player to produce a match-winning hand.

The final word, though, went to Hetmyer, who, despite an excellent penultimate over from Sam Curran and a good effort from Arshdeep Singh, won with a six off the last ball. There had been two sixes from Hetmyer in the lead-up to that.

The last over

Sam Curran dismissed Rovman Powell and Keshav Maharaj in the 19th over while conceding only 10, and Royals needed 10 off the 20th over. Hetmyer was on strike, so it always seemed likely, but then Arshdeep delivered two glorious yorkers first up, which the batter could not make anything of, and the equation came down to 10 off four.

The key shot in the final over was Hetmyer’s desperate wallop down the ground off the third ball. Arshdeep had not missed his length by much, but this was not quite in the blockhole. Hetmyer swung hard and managed to bully this ball into the boundary cushion – not over it – back behind the bowler.

Only centimetres were in it. Had Arshdeep pitched a fraction fuller, Hetmyer would not have been able to get under it. Had Hetmyer not hit it with slightly fewer Newtons of force behind it, the shot would have only brought four, and six would have been required off the last two.

Hetmyer muscled a ball towards long on and got two next ball, but the worst ball of Arshdeep’s over was the last one, and almost anyone could have hit that for a boundary. This came juicy, knee-high, and on the stumps. Hetmyer shuffled over and thwacked it over deep fine leg, clinching a thriller.

Rabada’s charge

In defence of a modest target, Rabada was intense. He bowled two tight powerplay overs, off which just 12 runs came, and then bowled aggressively through the middle overs, as Kings were looking for wickets. He got Jaiswal with a short wide one the batter toe-edged, then claimed the prized wicket of Royals captain Samson when he jagged one back to hit the batter on the back leg. Rabada conceded only two boundaries, which was also the number of wickets he took.

Kings’ underwhelming innings

Until the last two overs, in which Impact Sub Ashutosh Sharma made the most of a let-off and hit 20 off the last nine balls he faced, Kings never seemed capable of moving into high gear. Every time some semblance of a partnership seemed to be forming, a wicket fell. Often this was because batters fell for cross-bat shots to short balls that got big on them. They were 38 for 1 after the powerplay, 53 for 4 after 10 overs, and 85 for 5 after 15 overs.

From that point, Ashutosh, Rabada, and to some extent Curran, did well to make such a tight game out of this.

Scores: Rajasthan Royals 152 for 7 (Jaiswal 39, Hetmyer 27*, Rabada 2-18) beat Punjab Kings 147 for 8 (Jitesh 29, Maharaj 2-23) by three wickets.

Associated Press, performed, Rajasthan Royals, rampant, Shimron Hetmyer

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