Why Is Shimron Hetmyer Not in RR Playing XI Tonight for PBKS vs RR IPL 2026? It is a question that will be on the minds of many fans, especially since the explosive Rajasthan Royals batter was absent from the lineup.
Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals lock horns tonight (April 28) in a high-octane Top 4 clash, being played at Mullanpur.
The question ‘Why Is Shimron Hetmyer Not in RR Playing XI Tonight for PBKS vs RR IPL 2026?’ has been trending since the toss. The answer is simple: Shimron Hetmyer won’t be available for the contest since he has been replaced by Sri Lankan T20I captain and all-rounder Dasun Shanaka in the RR Playing XI. Hetmyer, although is in the impact subs list, he cannot be used since RR have already used four overseas players in the lineup.
The news of the same was confirmed by RR skipper Riyan Parag at the toss.
Riyan said, “Hetmyer sits out, Dasun Shanaka comes in. And there’s one more change. Bishnoi goes out and Yash Punja comes in.”
Notably, Shanaka had gone unsold at the IPL 2026 auction last December but was secured by the Royals as an injury replacement for Sam Curran. Interestingly, Shanaka had to face a one-year ban from Pakistan Super League (PSL 2026), since he decided to give up his contract with the Lahore Qalandars to ply his trade with Rajasthan.
On the other hand, Hetmyer has struggled to get going at the No.5 slot after his recent heroics at the No.3 position in West Indies jersey. In six games, Shimron has managed just 72 runs at a subpar average of 14.4 with no score above 30s. Contrarily, Dhruv Jurel has done a decent job at first-down with 232 runs in eight innings at an average of 33.14 including three fifties.
Furthermore, playing Shanaka gives Rajasthan an extra pacer option.
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Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh(w), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer(c), Cooper Connolly, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS Impact Subs: Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Xavier Bartlett, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan
Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja
RRR Impact Subs: Ravi Bishnoi, Ravi Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer
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