Kolkata Knight Riders produced a dominant performance on Wednesday night to beat Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets in a one-sided contest in Guwahati. After restricting them to 151/9, the Knight Riders chased down the target with 15 balls to spare, with Quinton de Kock smashing an unbeaten 97. Jofra Archer, RR's premier pacer, endured yet another forgettable outing, conceding 33 off just 2.3 overs.
Archer was hammered for 76 runs in his four overs in the side's opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which was an IPL record for most expensive figures in the tournament's history. However, while Archer retained the faith from the team management to keep his place in the XI for the second match, ormer Australia spinner Brad Hogg pointed out a certain moment right after the match, which he believes showed a lack of “empathy” for the pacer.
Hogg shared a screenshot from the post-match moments where Shimron Hetmyer was laughing with, and hugging de Kock, and stated that the RR player should've not been too friendly right after the game, especially when the side's own star pacer was hammered in such fashion.
“There's one thing that really bugs me. Jofra Archer bowling the last over, went for 18 runs off 3 balls. It was a four, six, two wides, and another six. The game was finished, de Kock was brilliant. But, once that final six has been hit, one of the Rajasthan Royals players (Shimron Hetmyer) came over and he was laughing with de Kock. He was cuddling him. What is going on there?” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}“There's one thing that really bugs me. Jofra Archer bowling the last over, went for 18 runs off 3 balls. It was a four, six, two wides, and another six. The game was finished, de Kock was brilliant. But, once that final six has been hit, one of the Rajasthan Royals players (Shimron Hetmyer) came over and he was laughing with de Kock. He was cuddling him. What is going on there?” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}“You are part of a team, your mate has just been hit, demolished, demoralized. He's had two games in a row, Jofra Archer, where he hasn't had the success that he would like. He's the main strike bowler, and you got teammates celebrating with the opposition after the game. This is not on. You can't do that. You've got to have a little bit more empathy for your bowler than that. Yes, shake hands; after about 10 minutes, go up and have a laugh. Not straight after the game.”
RR yet to win
The Royals are yet to get off the mark in the 2025 edition, losing both of their matches. The side is without its captain, Sanju Samson, on the field; while Samson has batted in both games, Riyan Parag is leading the side as the Kerala star is yet to be cleared fully fit to perform wicketkeeping duties.
The Royals will return to action on March 30 when they take on the Chennai Super Kings.