Heinrich Klaasen became the first South African batter to score a century for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Indian Premier League (IPL) history. Klaasen is the third SRH batter to score a century after former skipper David Warner, Jonny Bairstow.
The wicketkeeper-batter reached his maiden IPL century from 49 balls. He achieved the milestone with a massive six off Harshal Patel in the penultimate over of the innings. This is the second-fastest century for SRH in IPL 2023. Warner reached his century from just 43 balls in IPL 2017.
Klaasen lost his wicket in the 19th over as well. He danced down the track and missed the fuller delivery from Patel. He scored 104 runs from 51 balls including eight fours and six sixes.
He is the seventh batter to score a century in the ongoing season. Yashasvi Jaiswal (124), Venkatesh Iyer (104), Suryakumar Yadav (103), Prabhsimran Singh (103), Shubman Gill (101), and Harry Brook (100) are the other centurions of the season.
Against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Klaasen got a promotion up the order. He came out to bat at number four when SRH were 28/2 from 4.3 overs. He got off the mark first ball with a boundary off Michael Bracewell who had struck twice in his first over. He hit Shahbaz Ahmed for three fours in the next over as SRH were 49/2 after powerplay overs.
He reached his half-century from just 24 balls in the 11th over. He went ballistic in the 17th over hitting Shahbaz Ahmed for two consecutive sixes. The 31-year old helped his side post a challenging total of 186/5.
He had support from Harry Brook who contributed with an unbeaten 19-ball 27 cameo. Brook and Klaasen shared a crucial 74-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
“Pretty special feeling. Little bit slower than the previous wickets. Little bit stoppiness from spinners. Trying to keep it as simple as possible (his method). Sometimes I search for flow with my hands, and the movement up and down causes inconsistency. So tried to keep hands as still as possible. Would love to say we're above par. They've got a fantastic batting unit. If we get couple of wickets early it should be enough,” Klaasen told the broadcasters after his marvellous knock.
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