Former Indian wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel feels that Shimron Hetmyer should return to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) playing XI on Friday if he is available. However, he missed the last two IPL 2022 contests after flying to Guyana to attend the birth of his child as well. In the absence of Hetmyer, Jimmy Neesham and Rassie van der Dussen played in the team. But, the Hetmyer has been a vital cog for RR this season with the bat.
While talking about that, Parthiv Patel said on Cricbuzz: “I think only one simple change is needed if Hetmyer is available. He should come in for Jimmy Neesham, they don’t need to consider any other change than that, everything is going well for them. If they can resolve Sanju Samson’s inability to convert his starts and end their overreliance on Jos Buttler before the playoffs, then it would be really good for them.”
However, Sanju Samson has scored 359 runs at an average of 29.92 with a couple of fifties. However, he has been guilty of reckless batting at times and failing to convert the starts into big scores as well. On the other hand, Pragyan Ojha also agreed that Hetmyer should return to playing XI. With 291 runs at a strike rate of 166.29, he has been doing well too. Rajasthan Royals will play against CSK on May 20 (Friday) at the Brabourne Stadium.
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During the same interaction, he said: “Hetmyer should definitely come in place of Neesham if he is available. Kuldeep Sen can also be brought in because he is bowling well. He is a good young fast bowler.”
“I think from RR’s perspective, this game is very important. They have a higher NRR compared to LSG, and when you play a long tournament like this, and you get multiple chances in the knockouts, it becomes very important. If something like what happened with GT occurs, then the second chance comes in handy,” Patel said
However, Parthiv Patel feels that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) should play Rajvardhan Hangargekar in the playing XI. The 2022 U-19 World Cup-winning player has failed to make a single appearance this season so far after he was bought by ₹1.50 crore following a bidding war with the Mumbai Indians (MI) as well.
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Expressing the same, Parthiv Patel said on Cricbuzz: “CSK will try everything to win this last match. They might try some new combinations. That will be something unpredictable. I wish to see Rajvardhan Hangargekar come in for Prashanth Solanki. I have been saying this from the first day. Hopefully, Dhoni plays him in the last game. I was disappointed with Fleming’s statement regarding him. This is an ideal opportunity for the youngster if he is fit.”
