Rajasthan Royals will play their last IPL 2025 game tomorrow.
Former India batter Aakash Chopra has opined that the Rajasthan Royals (RR) should release the West Indies player Shimron Hetmyer ahead of the next Indian Premier League (IPL). The finisher failed to chase the required targets multiple times this season, even after getting an explosive start from the RR openers.
“This team should release Shimron Hetmyer. You have kept him after wasting 11 crores because he hasn’t performed at all, and these were the games he should have won. Then Dhruv Jurel is left alone, and even if Shimron Hetmyer is there with him, he doesn’t finish games,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Notably, RR retained Hetmyer ahead of the IPL 2025 player auction for INR 11 crore. But he almost botched five chases after getting a crucial start and let go of their grip in the match. He also got dismissed for a cheap 12-ball-11 in their latest clash against the Punjab Kings.
The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out another RR batter, Dhruv Jurel, who has underperformed in this IPL 2025. Jurel got good starts this season but failed to convert them into a match-winning knock.
“Dhruv Jurel played a good knock once again, but couldn’t finish. I won’t say the ₹14 crore investment in him was wrong, but the truth is that they have fallen just short in run chases many times, and Dhruv Jurel was standing in the end in all those games. Dhruv Jurel is standing there and scoring runs but is unable to finish matches, and that becomes a bit of an issue,” added Chopra.
However, the RR wicketkeeper-batter performed well in their previous match. He put up 53 runs off 31 balls at a fierce strike rate of 170.96. But he failed to finish things off once again. After his dismissal in the final over, RR lost the match narrowly by 10 runs.
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Hetmyer and Jurel have scored 227 and 302 runs, respectively, in 13 matches of RR so far. After their poor stint this year, the Royals are likely to release them ahead of the IPL 2026 player auction.
The Men in Pink are already out of the IPL 2025 playoffs contention after a disastrous season. They lost at least five contests which should have gone their way.
They lost three back-to-back narrow matches against the Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru early in the league. Following these games, RR also lost against the Kolkata Knight Riders by just one run.
Last evening’s 10-run loss against PBKS is the latest addition to their list of closely fought battles. However, they will look to finish the tournament on a high.
Sanju Samson and Co. will face the Chennai Super Kings, who are also eliminated from the playoffs race, in their last league-stage game tomorrow. The clash will take place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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