Are Rajasthan Royals missing a trick by batting Shimron Hetmyer down the order? In their five-run loss to Punjab Kings on Wednesday, they sent Hetmyer out at No. 7 when they needed a stiff 77 from 36 in a chase of 198.
Hetmyer took them close with his 36 off 18, bringing the equation down to 16 off the last over, but Tom Moody and Sanjay Manjrekar strongly feel Hetmyer should bat much higher up because he is a more “complete” batter, not just a finisher.
“I think he’s a far better player than that,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time:Out show after the game.
“He is not a [Kieron] Pollard or Andre Russell type player that’s geared for the last six overs. Both these players are obviously IPL icons so they’ve got specific skillsets. Hetmyer can potentially do that but he is more of a complete batsman than that.
We’ve seen him batting at No. 3 in 50-over cricket for West Indies, he doesn’t play a lot of cricket for them now but when he first started as a young player, [he was] scoring international hundreds for the West Indies…he’s a top-order player.
“Players of that calibre need to be out there following in the wake of Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler.”
In the Royals’ first game this season, batting first against Sunrisers Hyderabad, they had sent out Hetmyer at No. 6, but after their top order of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Buttler and Samson had blasted quickfire fifties, Hetmyer wasn’t required as much as he was in Wednesday’s chase.
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