Hard-hitting West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer was roped in by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the mega auction for the 2022 edition of IPL. The Guyana-born southpaw is now eagerly waiting to get Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara’s “brains on certain aspects of games” and he also feels that "there is no pressure of the price tag" on him. Hetmyer was signed by Rajasthan-based franchise for an amount of Rs 8.5 Crore.
Hetmyer speaks
“It’s very exciting to play under someone like Kumar Sangakkara. A legend of the game, I’ve heard some amazing things about him and can’t wait to get his brains on certain aspects of my game, that can help become better not just in the white-ball format but also in the longer version of the game with the red ball," Hetmyer said in a release issued by the franchise.
“There’s no pressure of the price tag on me, it’s a challenge to help the Royals when I’m out there. The price tag does not really matter to me, it’s the runs I score that help contribute to the team’s cause that matter.
“I'm really excited to get going for the Royals. I've heard some really nice things about the franchise from my good friend Evin Lewis, and I can’t wait to get going and just enjoy myself as part of the squad," the 25-year-old batter further added.
Stats and numbers
Hetmyer has till now featured in 31 IPL matches and he has scored 517 runs at an average of 25.85 and with a strike rate of 151.17. Previously, he has been part of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC). While sharing his initial experience of playing in IPL, Hetmyer shared an interesting anecdote.
"I think it was 2018, I had a chance to go to a camp with the Royals in Mumbai and that was one of my first interactions with an IPL team. It felt like a great atmosphere back then, met some really thoughtful cricketing people and was again glad to see some of them still with the squad this season as well.”
RR will start their IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 29, in Pune
Rajasthan Royals full squad for IPL 2022
Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Arunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie Van Der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell
