Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Shimron Hetmyer has revealed that he and Jason Holder often have some fun banter over their performances against each other.
The left-handed batter got the better of his West Indian teammate during the IPL 2022 match between RR and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, according to the IPL schedule.
In a light-hearted chat with RR pacer Trent Boult following the franchise’s three-run win over Lucknow, Hetmyer spilt the beans on his banter with LSG's Holder. Asked whether he was specifically targeting his Windies teammate, the Rajasthan left-hander told Boult in an interaction on IPLT20.COM:
“Pretty much (smiles). I love playing against Jason Holder. We have a banter that we usually do with each other. If he gets me out, he will talk about it for hours and hours. If I get him, I just watch him and smile and that’s how I win.”
The 25-year-old batter slammed an unbeaten 59 off 36 against Lucknow on Sunday to lift his IPL team to 165 for six after they were put in to bat. The southpaw whacked Holder for two sixes and a four in the 18th over and cleared the ropes once more in the last over against the same bowler.
Before Hetmyer’s blazing knock, Rajasthan were struggling at 67 for four in the 10th over. Asked how difficult it was to bat on the surface, the aggressive batter admitted that it wasn’t easy at the start. He explained:
“It was a little bit difficult to start with, to be honest. I could not believe that it was as slow as it was. It didn’t look that way from the outside. I almost got tricked by it, but it was coming on (to the bat) towards the end, so it was really nice at the end.”
The West Indian big-hitter has been in superb form for RR in the IPL 2022 season. In four matches, he has smashed 168 runs at a strike rate of 178.72.
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“Have you eaten, have you slept well” - Sanju Samon on conversations with Shimron Hetmyer
RR skipper Sanju Samson was visibly pleased with the team’s performance against LSG. At the post-match conference, he was asked what kind of conversation he had with Hetmyer. Samson revealed that he doesn’t need to tell him much as the batter knows his job. He said:
"Conversations (with Hetmyer) are, has he eaten and slept well, that's it (laughs). Not much to converse about, he knows what to do."
After RR put up 165 for six batting first, Yuzvendra Chahal (4/41) and Trent Boult (2/30) shone with the ball as LSG were held to 162 for eight.
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