In the 16th match of the IPL 2026 between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a surprising moment was seen. Shimron Hetmyer came out to bat without wearing a helmet while facing Krunal Pandya. Seeing this, wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma signaled to the bowler to bowl a bouncer and even pointed towards Hetmyer’s head. He also adjusted the field on the leg side, expecting a big shot. It was a smart and interesting moment during the match.
Jitesh Sharma Predicts Krunal’s Bouncer
Krunal Pandya is typically a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, but his surprising bouncers are so popular in the IPL. While bowling the normal spin, he suddenly bowls a bouncer to surprise the batsman, and many times this works well for the all-rounder.
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Shimron Hetmyer comes out to bat without wearing helmet. Jitesh gestures to one of the RCB fielders that next ball's gonna be a bouncer from Krunal (points to his head). Then goes ahead adjusting the fielder on the onside for a potential pull/hook pic.twitter.com/aM2rObiVYr
— Middle Stump Cricket (@MiddleCricket) April 11, 2026
Now, during the RR vs RCB game in Guwahati, RR batter Shimron Hetmyer comes out to bat without a helmet against Krunal Pandya. The wicket keeper Jitesh Sharma saw this and signaled the bowler to bowl the bouncer to the batter, also setting the field according to that.
However, Krunal welcomes Hetmyer with a bouncer outside off stump, and the confused left-hander dangles his bat at the last moment and gives a simple catch to Hazlewood at short third. He got out on the golden duck, and somehow, the plan of Jitesh Sharma creates some confusion in the mind of Hetmyer.
However, Rajasthan Royals comfortably won the match by 6 wickets thanks to the unbeaten 81-run inning of Dhruv Jurel and the explosive 78-run knock with a 300 strike rate of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Even after an initial collapse, RCB managed to put up a total of 201 in 20 overs with a loss of 8 wickets. Captain Rajat Patidar played a crucial inning of 63 runs off 40 balls, and in the end, Venkatesh Iyer's unbeaten 29 runs off 15 balls and Romario Shepherd's 22-run knock gave the finishing touch to the RCB inning.
While chasing the target of 202, RR's last hero, Yashasvi Jaiswal, got out early. However, Vaibhav Sooyavanshi and Dhruv Jurel did not stop and finished half of the game for RCB in the powerplay only. Vaibhav scored 78 runs off just 26 balls, and Dhruv Jurel played an unbeaten inning of 81 runs off 43 balls. RR chased down the target early in 18 overs and won the match by 6 wickets.
