Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 26 (ANI): Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) big-hitting middle-order batter Heinrich Klaasen will be one of the men in focus during the Indian Premier League (IPL) final clash against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday, as the South African has a fine straight rate against some of the Purple and Gold side’s finest bowlers.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), two of the biggest trailblazers of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), will be taking on the title clash at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. KKR finished the league stage on the top of the points table with nine wins, three losses and two no results, giving them 20 points. They earned a direct spot in the final by defeating SRH in the qualifier one. SRH got a second shot at the title in the qualifier two against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and they made the most of it by defeating the Men in Pink by 36 runs.
Klaasen, though he has been outshined by SRH’s openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the tournament, is still a force to be reckoned with and on his day, is a match-winner by himself. Having proven his mettle in T20 leagues across the world, it would not be wrong to say that he is the best T20 batter currently. In 15 matches for SRH this year, he has scored 463 runs at an average of 42.09 and a strike rate of 176.04. His best score is 80*. He has scored four half-centuries this season and is the 11th-highest run-scorer of IPL 2024.
Against KKR as an SRH player in the IPL, Klaasen has scored 147 runs in four innings at an average of 49.00 and a strike rate of 193.42, with a knock of 63 as his solitary fifty.
Klaasen was the danger man in SRH’s first game against KKR, scoring 63 in 29 balls with eight massive sixes and chasing down 209 runs set by the Knights himself before Harshit Rana struck timely in the final over. The batter has a fine strike rate against spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine and pacer Mitchell Starc.
Against Varun, Klaasen strikes at 206.66. He has scored 31 runs in 15 balls against Varun, with the help of four sixes and has played just five dots against him. Varun has dismissed Klaasen once in their three meetings.
Klaasen has a strike rate of 166.66 against Narine, scoring 30 runs in 18 balls across four meetings between these two stars, with two fours and a six. He has played just one dot ball against Narine, preferring to taking singles against him.
Starc does not enjoy an edge over Klaasen either, being hit for 22 runs in 10 balls in their two meetings so far, with the help of three sixes. Klaasen has scored two singles against Starc and played four dots against the pacer.
Narine and Starc are yet to dismiss Klaasen in T20 cricket.
Harshit Rana, the pacer who dismissed Klaasen in their last clash, has been hit for 23 runs in 13 balls across their three meetings, with a four, two sixes, seven singles and just three dot balls.
However, Andre Russell has been able to tame Klaasen as the South African has scored at just 120.00 strike rate against him, with 12 runs in 10 balls, with a four and six singles. Klaasen has played two dots against Russell.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Umran Malik, Sanvir Singh, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Sherfane Rutherford, Dushmantha Chameera, Chetan Sakariya, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sakib Hussain, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar. (ANI)
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