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Heinrich Klaasen now has the record for the fastest century in SRH history — off just 37 balls.
Heinrich Klaasen on the way to his record-breaking century vs KKR. (AP Photo)
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) star batter Heinrich Klaasen showed why he’s one of the most feared batters in T20 cricket with his stellar 39-ball 105 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday (May 25). He reached his three figures off just 37 balls — which is the fastest-ever for SRH in the history of IPL, beating Travis Head’s previous best of 39 from 2024 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
He came to bat at 92/1 in the seventh over with the foundation already laid by Abhishek Sharma and Head. Klaasen then smashed seven boundaries and nine sixes, mostly down the ground and to the leg side. He took a particular liking to KKR’s spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy, scoring 24 (10) and 36 (12) off them, respectively. He also became the first after David Warner to score multiple centuries for SRH.
Klaasen’s knock took SRH to a brilliant 278/3 in the first innings — the highest total at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the competition.
“Very pleased,” he said in the mid-innings break as quoted by Cricbuzz. “It’s been a long season of disappointment. Luckily, I stuck to my processes and found my form now. The franchise spent a lot of time and money to play this brand of cricket, and it was up to us to step up to the mantle. (On the pitch) I tried to hit every ball for six, there was a spell from Narine where it was quite difficult, but I tried to improvise. The hard lengths are a bit tougher to play. (On batting at number 3) I’m a situation player, that’s the idea in the dugout. If we lose a wicket after the powerplay or just at the end of the powerplay, then I just go in. If we lose a wicket earlier, then it doesn’t quite work out. For me, it’s just a number, it all depends on the team situation,” he added.
Klaasen’s now also SRH’s highest run-scorer with 487 runs at an average of 44.27 and a strike-rate of 172.69. He’d hope that his knock would help SRH end a forgettable campaign, which saw them get knocked out early in the group stage, on a good note.
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