Following his side’s one run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rajasthan Royals (RR) batting coach Vikram Rathour admitted that the team failed to click as a unit despite some great individual performances and backed struggling batter Shimron Hetmyer to come good. The clash against defending champions KKR summed up RR’s frustrating season so far. Despite a fine fighting knock by skipper Riyan Parag and some fireworks from Shubham Dubey, RR fell one run short, registering another single-digit run loss at Kolkata on Sunday.
Speaking during the post-match presser, Vikram said, “It is the fourth game which we could have won, but we could not. This is the kind of season we have. Riyan (Parag), Dhruv (Jurel), Nitish (Rana), Sanju (Samson), Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shimron Hetmyer have played enough cricket. Riyan got us into a position where we could have won. We gave 15-20 runs extra.”
On Hetmyer’s form, he said, “Hetmyer is supposed to be our finisher, but he has not had a fine season. In past, he has done well for us in international and franchise cricket. People are allowed to have these kinds of seasons. Unfortunately, he has had one this year. I am sure he will improve. Optimal entry for Hetmyer is around 13th-14th over, but Hasaranga plays spin well, we wanted to take that chance (by promoting Wanindu Hasaranga over Hetmyer).”
This season, the West Indies batter has made just 216 runs in 11 innings at an average of 21.60, a strike rate of almost 147, with just one fifty.
Rathour also admitted that the team is missing skipper Sanju and pacer Sandeep Sharma’s presence due to injuries.
On letting go of ex-player Jos Buttler, who had an incredible stint with RR from 2018-24 as one of their key batters, Rathour said, “Would not say it is a mistake, the management is happy with the six we have retained. We could have only retained six.”
Speaking on his team’s collective performance, Rathour said, “Our batters have scored runs, almost all of them. They are batting well in the nets. But it has not been happening collectively. Similarly, in bowling, we have not clicked as a group despite some great individual spells. Our fielding has not helped as well. We have good quality in our batting. We took the games close and could not finish. This is the kind of season we have had. I am sure we will be a great team in the coming two seasons. We will learn from it.”
Coming to the match, KKR won the toss and opted to bat first. After Sunil Narine was dismissed cheaply, a half-century stand between skipper Rahane and Gurbaz (35 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and a six) steadied the ship. A 61-run stand for the fourth wicket between Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 in 31 balls, with five fours) and Andre Russell (57* in 25 balls, with four boundaries and six sixes) gave the innings much-needed speed. Russell and Rinku (19* in six balls, with a four and two sixes) took KKR to 206/4 in their 20 overs.
Jofra Archer, Yudhvir Singh, Riyan and Maheesh Theekshana took a wicket each.
During the run-chase of 207 runs, RR was 71/5, but a 92-run stand between skipper Riyan Parag (95 in 45 balls, with six fours and eight sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer (29 in 23 balls, with a four and six) gave them a massive chance. Despite fireworks from Shubham Dubey (25* in 14 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Jofra Archer (12 in eight balls, with a four), RR fell short by a run, finishing at 205/8 in their 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (2/32), Harshit Rana (2/41) and Moeen Ali (2/43) were the top wicket-takers for KKR.
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