He's a Far Better Player Than That: Tom Moody Advises RR to Promote Shimron Hetmyer in Batting Order

Former Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody believes that a player of Shimron Hetmyer’s calibre should come to bat after Jos Buttler and captain Sanju Samson in the Rajasthan Royals’ line-up not lower down the order as West Indian is capable of playing more number of overs.

Chasing 198 against Punjab Kings in Guwahati, Royals were reduced to 91/4 in 11 overs. The equation then went down to 77 runs needed off 36 deliveries. Hetmyer, coming out to bat at number seven, took Royals close with his 18-ball 36 blitz, though he fell in the final over as the 2008 IPL champions fell short by five runs.

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“I think he’s a far better player than that. He is not a (Kieron) Pollard or Andre Russell type player that’s geared for the last six overs. Both these players are obviously IPL icons so they’ve got specific skill sets. Hetmyer can potentially do that but he is more of a complete batsman than that.

We’ve seen him batting at No. 3 in 50-over cricket for West Indies, he doesn’t play a lot of cricket for them now but when he first started as a young player, (he was) scoring international hundreds for the West Indies he’s a top-order player. Players of that calibre need to be out there following in the wake of Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler," Moody said on ESPNcricinfo.

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Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar agreed with Moody’s views and thinks Hetmyer should come at five for the Royals, with Samson at number four and Devdutt Padikkal batting at number three.

“This left-hand right-hand combination just makes sure that Hetmyer has to go down the order. (But) he should move up the order, and this has happened for far too long. Maybe they think he’s somebody who can go in and play in the last three-four overs and maybe enjoys that role.

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The ideal batting order for Rajasthan Royals would be if they want to keep backing Devdutt Padikkal, then he can’t be batting at No. 4 because it’s tough for someone who opens the innings generally to find form batting at No. 4," said Manjrekar.

“Sanju Samson could make that sacrifice, bat at No. 4, which he’s done in the past and he’s a good enough player to do that. Then you stick with Buttler, Jaiswal, Padikkal at No. 3, Sanju Samson at four and have Hetmyer at five, and that order shouldn’t change, come what may.

“This left-right combination, the match-ups, you can do when you have evenly-matched players batting at Nos. 5, 6 and 7. There’s a huge gap between Hetmyer and the others that came before him," he added.

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