If cricket were a set of emotions, pace bowling would inarguably represent anger, aggression, and sheer passion. Imagine the scenes then when two such players of similar mould go head on — Shimron Hetmyer certainly did not have to get too creative, for he actually witnessed it all in Guwahati.
Kolkata Knight Riders made the most of their decision to bowl first at the Barsapara Stadium on Wednesday as they scalped wickets at regular intervals to restrict the Rajasthan Royals to a subpar total of 151/9. Varun Chakaravarthy was the pick of the bowlers, as is often the case, with wondrous figures of 2/17 but the mystery spinner had enough help around him as Moeen Ali, Harshit Rana, and Vaibhav Arora matched his wickets tally as well. In fact, it took a late 16-run cameo from tailender Jofra Archer to even take them beyond the 150-run milestone, the Englishman’s seven ball stay making for some peak IPL cricket viewing.
Archer arrived to the crease in the 19th over after Harshit got the better of Dhruv Jurel and immediately cut a short and wide delivery towards square leg for a maximum. The KKR player was far from pleased and given his reputation for wearing his heart on the sleeve, an exchange seemed inevitable. And it arrived the very next ball itself, when Harshit slung in a full delivery allowing Archer to stride forward with a riveting hit down the ground. However, Harshit was quick with his reflexes to get a hand on the Kookaburra and stop in its track and once he realized Jofra was outside his crease, the pacer was quick to threaten a throw at the stumps.
While all this chaos went down at the other end, Shimron Hetmyer was worried for both his life and wicket given the pace at which the ball and came as well as the fact that harshit got his fingers to it. As a result, he sprawled and tumbled to the ground in awkward fashion in the background, adding even more entertainment to the amusing incident — much to Twitterati’s delight.
LOL
Good one
Good turnout in Guwahati! The crowd is right behind Rajasthan Royals, creating a fantastic atmosphere. 💗🏏#VarunChakaravarthy #RRvKKR #TATAIPL2025 #IPL2025 #Guwahati pic.twitter.com/X7XJHbzXQI
— lightningspeed (@lightningspeedk) March 26, 2025
Archer aadhi team se acchi batting karke chala gaya.@academy_dinda how is this fair? 😂😂
— vishal kumar (@vishalsah1986) March 26, 2025
Comeback
Ye jofra Archer aj comeback ke mood me na ho bas
— Sanket 🇮🇳 (@SanketM2406) March 26, 2025
Yes
Sir jofra archer knock > haiswal, sanju, rana
— Иidhi (@jfmdgaf) March 26, 2025
9th WICKET!!!!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥
Jofra Archer Bowled by Spencer Johnson
Good length ball, pitching on leg stump, Jofra Archer plays a slog shot #IPL2025 #RRvKKR #RRvsKKR #Kolkata #KKR https://t.co/Wcfzy3c5wN— The Indian Manchester United Red 😈 (@itsHiM_Rahman) March 26, 2025
Started
Rajasthan Royals started the season by conceding the highest total & followed it up by recording the lowest total of this season in their first two games…
— Abhishek AB (@ABsay_ek) March 26, 2025
Deep
KKR batting lineup is deep and Rajasthan Royals need to take 3 or 4 wickets in the powerplay itself if they want to stay in the match.🧐#RRvsKKR #IPL2025
— F.C Nitish (@fcnitish970) March 26, 2025
Rajasthan Royals never got going on this tricky wicket, they were always fighting for momentum. They needed 20-25 more, 151 may be too low a total to defend against KKR.
— Vipul 🇮🇳 (@Vipul_Espeaks) March 26, 2025
Likely
mushkil se 2-4 toh fans honge rajasthan royals ke. woh bhi disappointed ho gye honge ab
— harsh (@hrsyadv) March 26, 2025
