Former India opener Virender Sehwag did not mince his words while pointing out Rajasthan Royals‘ (RR) mistake after their defeat to Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Wednesday (April 5) in Guwahati. RR had sent Shimran Hetmyer at No. 7. This had cost Pink Jersey as they fell short of five runs.
RR were at 57/3 in 5.4 overs after Jos Buttler‘s wicket. But instead of Hetmyer, RR sent Devdutt Padikkal who played a slow knock of 21 off 26 balls. RR made another blunder previously when they sent Ravichandran Ashwin in place of Padikkal to open the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Buttler came at No.3 because of his finger injury.
Padikkal’s knock left RR with an asking rate of around 13 runs an over. But Hetmyer and a young Dhruv Jurel brought RR back to the game.
Virender Sehwag said that sending Shimron Hetmyer at No.4 or No.5 would have left the left-handed batter more balls to bat and RR would have won the game. Notably, Hetmyer usually bats at No.4 for West Indies.
“He didn’t get enough balls to bat. What’s the point of this 200 strike rate? If he had batted at No.4 or 5, came ahead of Riyan Parag or even before Padikkal, he is a lefty too, then he would have gotten more balls to bat,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
“He is a very dangerous batter. Yes, he could have gotten out early but what’s the guarantee that wouldn’t get out early by batting down the order? But what if he got set by coming in the top four? He could have won you the game with an over to spare. I think RR captain Sanju Samson and coach Kumar Sangakkara have made an error here,” he added.
Punjab put on 197/4 in 20 overs due to Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten 86 off 56 and Prabhsimran Singh’s 60 off 34. During the chase, Sanju Samson tried to stabilize the innings with his 42 off 25 balls.
After Padikkal and Riyan Parag’s dismissal, Hetmyer played a quickfire, slamming 36 runs from 18 balls, while Jurel, who was also the Impact Player, scored 32 off 15 balls to take RR to 192.