“Rubbish, he’s a batter” - Former New Zealand cricketer blasts Rajasthan Royals’ tactics in RR vs KKR IPL 2025 match

Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull slammed Rajasthan Royals (RR) for using their impact sub in the first innings and holding back Shimron Hetmyer during the eight-wicket loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL). The explosive Caribbean batter was sent out to bat at No.8 as RR brought on Shubham Dubey as the impact sub at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday, March 26.

RR were in all sorts of trouble against the KKR spinners on a sticky wicket and were reduced to 82-5 in the 11th over. The batting side had already promoted Wanindu Hasaranga at No.5, and were in desperate need of a rebuild in the second innings.

Shubham Dubey came on as an impact sub, replacing Sanju Samson, but was dismissed for nine runs off 12 deliveries. Hetmyer, at No.8, was also not effective, scoring seven runs off eight deliveries, before being dismissed by Harshit Rana in the penultimate over.

Simon Doull opined that RR should have explored all of their batting resources before deciding to use the impact sub option to rescue the first innings.

"Why are they protecting Shimron Hetmyer? What was the money they retained him for, they retained him for 11 crore, and he batted at No.8. He bats at No.3 or No.4 at different times for Guyana. I mean, you can get pigeonholed into a position where, 'Oh, he's a finisher'. Rubbish, he's a batter," Doull said on Cricbuzz.

Doull further stated that RR have made several questionable decisions in the early stages of the IPL 2025 already.

"You are using your resources before you need to by sending in your impact sub. It's really poor planning from RR. In the first couple of games, there's been some different strategies and decisions that I have not agreed with at all, and to bring him (Dubey) in ahead of Hetmyer, you are using that resource of yours. What if Hetmyer comes in at No.5 and gets some runs, puts a partnership together with Jurel? All of a sudden, you don't need Shubham Dubey. I mean, nine from twelve, that is not an impact. You can use Hetmyer and Archer before you even consider using your impact sub," he added.

Using their impact sub option in the first innings, RR were forced to head into the second innings with a depleted bowling unit. Instead of a frontline spinner to assist Theekshana and Hasaranga on a sticky wicket, the part-time spinners like Riyan Parag and Nitish Rana had to chip in with the ball.

RR have begun their IPL 2025 campaign with consecutive defeats

RR's patchy batting effort got them to 151-9 at the end of the first innings. The Riyan Parag-led side stayed in the hunt during the second innings with a tidy bowling effort in the powerplay, restricting KKR to only 40 runs along with Moeen Ali's wicket.

However, Quinton de Kock held one end to bat deep and take KKR over the line. The wicket-keeper batter scored an unbeaten 97 as the defending champions chased down the score with 15 balls to spare.

RR are in early trouble after losing both their matches so far. They lost their first match of the season to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs, and are now placed bottom of the table with 0 points and a concerning net run-rate of -1.882.