Shimron Hetmyer hopes to come back to resume his duties for RR.
Shimron Hetmyer, the Rajasthan Royals' West Indian hitter, has left for Guyana to give birth to his first child, the team said on Sunday. Royals are in third place and are looking like one of the better placed teams to make the playoffs which are set to begin on May 24.
Hetmyer has been a huge contributor to the Royals' surge up the points table where they sit at third place. As the team's finisher, he has scored 291 runs at an average of 72 (he has remained unbeaten in seven out of 11 innings). A more telling statistic of his influence is his death-overs (17-20) strike rate.
At 214.28, he is among the top five most destructive finishers this season (min 30 balls).
"My stuff is still left in the room," the 25-year-old said, indicating that he will be returning to India to see out the rest of the IPL.
"We are helping him (Hetymer) in every way we can, and our best wishes are with him and his wife Nirvani. We look forward to Shimron then returning to Mumbai, and resuming duties at the Royals for the remainder of our matches in IPL 2022," the franchise said on their official Twitter.
James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Karun Nair, Rassie van der Dussen and Nathan Coulter-Nile might now be in the running to fill the vacancy he's left behind in the batting order.
Royals have three games left in the league stage - Delhi Capitals on May 11, Lucknow Super Giants on May 15, and Chennai Super Kings on May 20.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)