Shimron Hetmyer: ‘When you get to a certain stage in your career it’s about not second-guessing yourself’

Shimron Hetmyer has been in West Indies’ T20I set-up for over eight years but is playing only his second World Cup in the format. He has moved up and down the order, been in and out of the side, seen a few controversies and is now back at No. 3 in the ongoing World Cup. He spoke about his T20 game, dealing with different challenges and what has made him wiser over the years.

You’re back at No. 3, where you started your career, after being a finisher for a while in the West Indies line-up. Is changing positions a challenge because of the kind of format T20 is, or does it come to you naturally?
I guess it’s a little bit of both, really, because I’ve done both jobs before and I think this one makes it a little bit easier to transition from finishing to batting at No. 3 because of the fact that most of my career, like when I started, I actually was batting early; it was either opening or batting at 3.

Actually, it was like a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing for us really because we were in South Africa [in January] and after the first game [the team management] were like, “We don’t have anyone that bats at three for us, so why not just go and see what can happen?” And I was like, “Okay, let me just get my mind wrapped around it for like a couple of hours.” And then just went in and did it [in the second game]. So far it’s been fun. It kind of helps a whole lot to have the backing of the entire team, which includes the management staff. So I’m enjoying it, I’m hoping that I continue to enjoy it as well.

So what kind of early conversations did you have with captain Shai Hope and coach Daren Sammy about this?
What I told you just now, it was basically that, really. It was just like the team just throwing it out there and they were like, “This is what we need and we know you could do the job, so this is for you to do.” It wasn’t really a take-it-or-leave-it kind of thing, it was more so that this is something that you have to do regardless, and I was like, “Okay, no problem,” it’s whatever the team wants basically.

How do you prepare for it, compared to finishing? Playing at No. 3 obviously means you face the new and swinging ball more often. Mentally what do you say to yourself when you’re not just walking out to just hit boundaries?
Really, it’s more to do with off-the-field kind of things. Mentally, once my mind is in the right place, I could either bat at three or bat at six, it doesn’t matter. Once I’m all good where my mind is concerned, I think that makes it so much easier to go to do it on the field.

Off the field I think I was still batting [against] the new ball. Sometimes when I’m playing with Rajasthan [Royals in the IPL], I still have the coach who just comes in and throws some new balls at me just to get the ball swinging around just a little bit. It’s just to make sure that I’m in the right positions and so on, that when I come down to the end, I still hold my shape. I still think finishing the game is all about holding your shape and making sure you’re still in good positions while doing it.

On being labelled inconsistent: “Best I can do is block those things out and just make sure that when I’m in training, I focus on doing repetition”•ICC/Getty Images

Do you also change your bat swing or your stance a little bit, because as a finisher, some batters prefer to open up a little bit?
Not really. I think the only change that comes around is when guys start bowling wide. I think other than that, everything just remains the same.

Across 2023 and 2024, your strike rate and average, against spin especially, were not that great. You averaged about 20 and your strike rate was close to 121 in that period, but then they shot up to over 42 and over 162 respectively in 2025 against spin. Was there a conscious decision to work on that specifically because you play T20 leagues around the world across conditions and the T20 World Cup was coming up in India and Sri Lanka?
I think that had mostly to do with the positions [I batted at] and when I was batting, because most of the time when I walk in, it’s like one over of spin that’s remaining. And then I’m thinking to myself, it doesn’t make sense to try to take a chance off spin if I know that my job is to finish the game. So I would like to think that that happened because I wasn’t really getting that [many] spin overs. But when the transition came, when I was actually getting to bat a little bit more spin because I was batting a lot earlier, then I was in the same mind space where it’s like, if it’s there and I could hit it, I’ll still hit it, but if not, I’ll try to get off strike. And then afterwards it was a conscious effort to take on left-arm spin and legspin just a little bit more to help the team.

So it wasn’t a thing you sat down and thought about or worked with a coach or anything?
It wasn’t, because I still backed myself on playing spin. I think that I play spin well. So regardless, if a spinner does get me out a couple of times, I still back myself that if I’m to face him again, I’ll probably get him. That’s why I don’t really think about, “Oh this guy’s probably gotten me out a couple of times or that guy’s probably gotten me out a couple of times.” It’s mainly just to make sure that my mind is in the right space and just keep working on the things I need to when I’m in the nets, and then just try as much as possible to transition that into the games.

What would you say has been the biggest challenge in your T20 career, apart from moving up and down the order, that really made you think “This is something I want to work on in my game to become a top player”?
I think that [moving up and down the order] was literally the hardest thing. From batting at [No.] 3 to 6 to 5 and then 4, 7, stuff like this, moving all over the place. It was a little bit difficult because sometimes when you have the opportunity to go in, you have eight-nine overs to bat and then there’s other times when it’s just like two-three overs.

Hetmyer says he’s now in a good place in his career: “I’m not thinking about anything, I’m just going out and enjoying the game as much as I can”•ICC/Getty Images

So with something like that, my aim has to still be, okay, this is what it is. Instead of overthinking it and thinking, “Oh why am I only getting this amount of overs to bat?” it’s mainly just to go in with the same mindset. Like, okay this is the job at hand that was placed in front of you. Regardless, you have to do your best to make sure that you get the job done.

And from then on, I think I’ve been more happy playing cricket again – I could free up my mind and just play.

My family is a big thing because they’re always there supporting me as well, and I think that is something that really helps me a whole lot – having that good support system behind me. Having a wife, it’s as hard [because] she can be on me when it comes to batting and so on, and always challenging me to make sure that I do better each and every game.

And that kind of pushes me to make sure that I do better and work harder when I’m in the nets and when I’m in games, to just focus in and zone in a lot more. All of that makes it a whole lot easier for me now. I’m not thinking about anything, I’m just going out and enjoying the game as much as I can.

How have you dealt with being labelled inconsistent at times by, say, former West Indies players who have seen you right from the start?
Honestly, I don’t really think about it that much because I think that everyone has their ups and downs with cricket. I don’t think there’s any batter that has ever played cricket who has made runs every single game. So when I hear people talking, “Oh, he’s not making runs” or “He’s really inconsistent” and so on, I’m like, it happens.

Like, sometimes you’re really good. When you’re good, you’re really good and then when it’s up and down, sometimes you get a score, sometimes you don’t. So for me it’s mainly just to do the best that I can to block those things out and just make sure that when I’m in training, I focus on doing repetition. Basically just keep doing the same things over and over, focusing on what I need to do and just getting the job done. And even if I don’t get it done on that day, I keep doing the same thing and then everything just gets a little bit easier.

“Finishing the game is all about holding your shape and making sure you’re still in good positions while doing it”•BCCI

So when such phases come when runs are not coming off your bat, especially in a league like the IPL, where you’re one of four overseas players, what do you tell yourself so that you get over that phase?
I just get back in on the stuff that I would have done to actually get to the [good] position. It’s really easy to think to yourself that, “Oh you don’t belong because of the fact that you’re not making runs or you’re not getting good performance,” and so on. But I think when you get to a certain stage in your career, it’s not about you really second-guessing yourself, it’s all about you believing in your own abilities and believing in your training and everything that you would have done to actually get to that stage.

I would think that when you start playing international cricket, there’s more eyes on you than before, and then there’s a lot more critics and everything. So it’s really easy for you to go on social media and listen and read a lot of things that people are saying and so on, and then start second-guessing yourself. I think when it comes to stuff like that, I’m okay.

I’m not really mentally strong but I think I’m okay where those things don’t really faze me as much as they used to. Because now I’m a little bit in a better space where that [criticism] is concerned. It’s like, “Oh, who cares?” Because if they’re in the position that I’m in, who knows what they would do.

How did you get into this space where you’re satisfied and at peace with all these things?
I think it’s family and prayers and stuff, man. Probably I won’t seem that way but I pray a lot with my family. We have our thing where we pray every single night before we go to bed and whatnot. For the last two-three years, that kind of really changed me a whole lot, where my mind is more settled and where I don’t think about all the negative things and just think positively. Even if I’m not making runs, [I’ll] just be like, “Okay it’s probably not my day today,” and just get it done in the field. That’s really kept me going and then having the support that I have as well back home, which also helps. It’s nice to know that regardless of if I’m doing well or if I’m doing bad, I have my two kids and my wife there watching me and cheering me on.

How hard was it to deal with being dropped from the 2022 T20 World Cup, when you missed a couple of flights?
It was tough, I must say. But I always believe that everything happens for a reason and if I was supposed to get there, I would have, but it just didn’t happen that way.

Though West Indies lost the T20I series against South Africa before the World Cup, Hetmyer was their top scorer, with 171 runs•Getty Images

There was a whole lot of stuff where something like that came up [before] this World Cup as well, but I’m like, you know what, I don’t care about what people have to see. Even if I have to get there on my own, it doesn’t matter, somehow I’ll get there. I think it’s more me moving in a positive direction and [not] thinking about all the negatives on the outside. There’s more in the world where negative things are concerned, so I’m just trying to make sure that regardless of what it is that’s going on around me, I’m trying to stay as positive as possible.

When a CPL or an IPL season is about to start, do you set a target for yourself – that you want to get these many runs or you want to achieve certain things in the season? Or do you go with a clean slate?
I actually never have, to be fair. I’ve had this question thrown to me a couple of times and people are like, “Oh, have you ever set goals?” I’ve never set a goal before a season starts. I know once I have a good enough season, I’ll get 300 runs or 400 runs easily. Even if it’s not, I’ll probably get 200 or something runs.

I still think if I’m playing IPL and I get 200 or close to 300 runs, that’s a decent season, for someone batting at [Nos.] 5 and 6. And in the CPL, where I’m batting at four, I’ll probably be a little bit harder on myself if I’m to get only 200 runs. But at the end of it all, it’s all getting the job done for the team. So once the team wins, it doesn’t matter how much I make, it really doesn’t matter.

T20 leagues are so competitive, and only one team wins the trophy. So how do you assess what a satisfying season was?
It’s really and truly where my mind is. Not to think too much about it, just go back and check on the games that I did well in and the games that I didn’t do so well, and then just kind of zone in on the good and the bad. And try to not replicate that when I leave that particular tournament; the IPL in this case. When I leave the IPL and I go back home, I’ll be like, okay this is the one way that I got out this year, I’ll try to develop and get better every single year and try as much as possible to do the right things for as long as possible.

You’re very familiar with these conditions, so are you kind of surprised that on the same grounds where we’ve been seeing 250-plus scores in the IPL, we are seeing much lower scores in this T20 World Cup?
Not really, because the pitches that we play on in the IPL, it’s completely different to the ones we’re playing on in the World Cup here. In the IPL I think [the pitches] are a lot flatter, not much spin or anything. But then in the World Cup, because it’s game after game every single day, then there’s people using the same pitches and so on, and the heat and everything, it probably gets dry a lot faster. So it’s probably a lot slower and a little bit lower and everything.

Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo