Rajasthan sneaked past PBKS in a final over thriller at the Mullanpur Stadium on Saturday, 13 April. RR were saved by Shimron Hetmyer’s 27* off just 10 balls, where the batter kept his nerve and chased down 10 runs in the final over against Arshdeep Singh. Hetmyer won the player of the match award for his terrific innings which brought Rajasthan back to winning ways in the Indian Premier League 2024.
Speaking after the game, Hetmyer said that it was a blessing and curse to be a finisher in the tournament as things were so unpredictable in the final few overs of the game. On the day, Hetmyer was under pressure after missing the first two balls of the final over but managed to pull off a terrific victory for the Jaipur-based franchise.
“I practice hard. I try to back myself for batting in these situations in the nets. I try as much as possible in the nets. I try my best to hit sixes. Sometimes, it comes off; sometimes, you can’t. Happy to pull off a victory for my team tonight,” Hetmyer said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
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“The pressure was creeping on me after a couple of balls. But I was as clear as possible about my job in hand,” the star player further added.
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At one point in time, it seemed like RR had made a mess of a simple 149-run chase after they opened with uncapped Mumbai spinner Tanush Kotiyan. Kotiyan, who plays as a spin bowling all-rounder for Mumbai in the domestic circuit looked out of his depth and was only able to score 24 off 31 balls. Things got quite tricky for the RR finishers in the final over, but two cameos from Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer was able to give them the edge that they needed to win the game.
“After missing a couple of deliveries first up in the final over, Boult came to me and said you have got this, mate. Yeah, definitely. I would have taken a single if it was there on offer with two needed off two. We (Boult and me) spoke about it. Single or double whatever was offered at that stage, we were going for it. A full toss came my way, and I was like (chuckles), backed myself and went for the six,” concluded the ever-smiling Hetmyer.
With the win, Rajasthan remained at the top of the table with 10 points from 6 games.
