Rajasthan’s star batter leaves the camp mid-season and returns home
Rajasthan (Image Source: BCCI/IPL)
Rajasthan has been brilliant with their performance in the Indian T20 League 2022. They have won seven of their 11 matches and are knocking at the door for a spot in the playoffs. Notably, Rajasthan won their last outing against Punjab in a high-scoring thriller at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (7th May 2022).
The win against Punjab came after a couple of defeats in their earlier matches. In their chase of 190 runs, Yashasvi Jaiswal played a brilliant knock of 68 runs off 41 deliveries and laid a strong foundation. But it was Shimron Hetmyer who provided the finishing touches scoring 31 runs off 16 deliveries and taking his team over the line.
He has proved himself an important part of the Rajasthan set up, time and again this season. Hetmyer’s 291 runs at a strike rate of 166.29 and an average of 72.75 speak of his contribution to the team. In the death overs (17-20) he has been lethal batting with a strike rate of 214.28. He has been a vital cog in the middle order of the Men in Pink.
In recent developments, Rajasthan will be missing Hetmyer for a few matches in their campaign. He has left for Guyana to be present during the birth of his first child on Sunday morning. The same was confirmed by Rajasthan with a short video on their official Twitter handle. In the clip, Hetmyer spoke of leaving the Rajasthan camp temporarily. He also said, “My stuff is still in the room”, indicating his quick return.
The post was captioned- “Shimron Hetmyer has travelled back to Guyana early morning today for the imminent birth of his first child, but he’ll be back soon.”
https://twitter.com/rajasthanroyals/status/1523128050279489537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1523128050279489537%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espncricinfo.com%2Fstory%2Frajasthan-royals-shimron-hetmyer-leaves-ipl-2022-for-the-birth-of-his-child-1314042
Rajasthan will be facing Delhi in their next on Wednesday, 11th May at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. They need to win two of their remaining three encounters to ensure their berth in their top four. It will be a tough job to fill up Hetmyer’s spot as he has been brilliant with the bat. But Rajasthan will hope that the options used to replace him do fill up the void he is leaving to some extent if not wholly.
