Sunrisers Hyderabad’s IPL 2025 campaign saw a clinical finish, courtesy of Heinrich Klaasen’s brilliant unbeaten 105 off just 39 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The South African wicketkeeper-batter hammered the opposition bowlers, guiding SRH to a huge total, 278/3, the third-highest total in IPL history, and eventually sealing a 110-run win in Delhi on Sunday.
Klaasen’s century, the joint-third fastest in IPL history, saw him smash seven boundaries and nine sixes. His fifty came off just 17 balls, and his next 50 runs came in 20 balls. After his innings, the right-handed batter thanked his family and franchise for believing in his abilities, despite a poor season.
“I want to thank my family, and the franchise. They spend a lot of time and effort and a lot of money into this brand of cricket and we owe it to them to step up to the plate and dish out good performances. The franchise puts a lot of money into this. They’ve been around for 13, 14 years. And for us, we had a bad start to middle end of the competition and it just didn’t look well on the field. For us to turn it around and we’ve played brilliant cricket over the last three and a half games. And to just give back to them as well,” Klaasen said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Klaasen becomes joint third-fastest centurion in IPL history
I’m a big situation player: Heinrich Klaasen
The 33-year-old adapted the situation perfectly after a solid opening partnership by Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. While he has batted in various middle-order positions this season, he revealed that he is a situational player and is ready to bat at any position his team wants him to.
“Look, I’m a big situation player. That’s the whole idea in the dugout as well. Sometimes it works out that you lose that wicket just off the powerplay or the back end of the powerplay and then I can go in. So it’s normally around that fifth or sixth over or just after the powerplay. That’s ideally when I want to go in. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve still got to do the job,” Klaasen added.
Head and Abhishek’s 92-run stand gave Klaasen a perfect opportunity to start hitting the ball one. KKR’s dependable bowlers Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy looked helpless as they couldn’t stop the flow of runs. In reply, KKR failed to put up a fight with the bat.
Despite a strong start from Narine, the side never looked in the game. Jaydev Unadkat’s 3 for 24, while Harsh Dubey (3 for 34) and Eshan Malinga (3 for 31) dismantled the middle and lower order. KKR were bowled out for 168 in 18.4 overs, ending their campaign in eighth place.
“I’ve worked a lot on it. It’s been getting me out a couple of times now. So I had to spend a lot of time in the nets getting it right. Just making sure I’m picking the right length. Sometimes I challenge myself too much. But it’s all part of growing and learning. What you can do and what you can’t do,” he concluded.
