Shimron Hetmyer - West Indies - Batsman

Born in Berbice, Guyana, Hetmyer is an Under 19 World Cup winning captain for the West Indies. Inspired by his father Seon Hetmyer, Shimron picked up the bat at a tender age of 11. Since then, he never looked back. His initial apprenticeship started off at the Young Warriors Cricket Club, Berbice.

He represented West Indies at the Under-19 World Cup in 2014 as well but managed three single digit scores out of the five games that he played in that tourney. Even his first class debut was far from being memorable as he managed scores of 0 and 4 in both innings against Trinidad And Tobago.

However, destiny gave him a second chance and this time he was meant to marshal the troops in the under-19 World Cup and he responded with crucial fifties in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the 2016 edition en-route to the silverware.

An attacking and destructive opener, he was picked up by the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2016 edition of the CPL. But he got out for a duck in the only game that he played. His promise and perseverance paid off and he was called up for national duties in April 2017 to feature in the three-match Test series against Pakistan. Slotted to bat at number 3, Shimron failed to convert his starts. He was later picked up for the tour to New Zealand in December 2017 but again, starts never materialized into anything substantial.

On the same tour, he was exposed to white ball cricket as well. In ODIs and T20Is, Hetmyer did not have a great time tallying only a handful of runs. He did however show a lot of promise as he scored a ton against UAE in the World Cup qualifiers to start his campaign. Hetmyer’s fearless and powerful strokeplay earned him a reputation as a middle-order enforcer and he continued to find a regular place in the Windies’ limited overs setup including for the 2019 Cricket World Cup and the 2021 World T20. He would, however, go on to miss the 2022 T20 World cup due to personal reasons.

Hetmyer’s first foray into the IPL came in 2019 when he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore but he had a lackluster season, prompting the franchise to release him. He was bought by the Delhi Capitals the following year but again, the promises proved to be larger than the performances. After two mediocre stints at Delhi, Hetymer was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for a sizeable INR 8.5 crore in 2022 and he delivered on his promise this time. Scoring 314 runs at a strike-rate of 153.92 in 15 games, Hetmyer was instrumental in Rajasthan’s run to the final that year.