Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are hosting Rajasthan Royals (RR) in match 56 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Thursday at Eden Gardens. Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and invited the Knight Riders to bat first at their home.
KKR’s opening duo of Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz emerged onto the field, aiming to give their team a strong start with their batting performance. However, their partnership was cut short in the third over of the innings courtesy of Shimron Hetmyer, who showcased his fielding skills by taking a stunning one-handed catch.
It all happened on the second ball of the third over bowled by Trent Boult when opener Roy flicked the white leather towards deep square leg. At first, it appeared the ball would easily land in the stands, but Hetmyer had some other plans.
The West Indies star, who was stationed on the boundary, jumped to his full height and went with both hands for the catch. Hetmyer managed to grab hold of the ball in his right hand and completed an absolute stunner to get rid of Roy.
Here is the video:
How good was that catch by @SHetmyer to dismiss Jason Roy.
Live – #TATAIPL #KKRvRR #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/AeaGnIwkss
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 11, 2023
Earlier, both teams revealed their playing XIs with few changes at the toss. While the Royals made two modifications in the form of Boult, who replaced Kuldip Yadav, and KM Asif, who came in place of Murugan Ashwin.
“We will bowl here first. Long tournament, need to change according to the strengths and weaknesses. Couple of changes for us – Boult replaces Kuldip Yadav, KM Asif replaces Murugan Ashwin. Root will bat at 4. It’s a long tournament, we have had some tough games for the bowlers, the morale of the team is high, not easy to forget close losses, but we need to move on,” said Samson at the toss.
Similarly, KKR made one change by getting Ankush Roy in place of Vaibhav Arora. The hosts made this change to strengthen their spin attack.
“I think we’re getting the type of pitches we want. We will have to play good cricket, take one game at a time and earn 2 points. One change for us – Anukul Roy replaces Vaibhav Arora. Looks like the pitch is dry, they haven’t watered a lot, so we are playing that extra spinner and add some depth to the batting,” said Nitish Rana.