Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) Heinrich Klaasen is currently in possession of the orange cap, with a 39-ball 59 knock in a winning cause against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 18. In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, Klaasen’s strike rate has been under the scanner. From scoring at a rapid strike rate of over 170 in the past three seasons, Klaasen’s strike rate in IPL 2026 is 144.38. But, the former Proteas cricketer is unfazed about the strike rate criticisms as long as he is finding ways to do his job at SRH.
“I know there’s been a lot said about my strike rate this season, but I’ve been putting the team in good positions, and I’m just doing my job,” Klaasen said during the post-match press conference.
“I’ve been in difficult situations, and then you have to take responsibility and be mature about it. You can’t just deal with it, and that’s not how the game works. We get paid to do the job, and I don’t care about strike rate.You just have to be mature about it and find different ways of scoring ten runs an over and making sure that you still get a good score on the board.”
Klaasen walked in to bat when SRH were 75/2 in powerplay overs having lost Travis Head and skipper Ishan Kishan off consecutive deliveries.
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He held on to one end when wickets were falling. In the 18th over, he was knocked over by Anshul Kamboj. SRH ended up posting 194/9. But, Klaasen said that had he not steered the ship and attacked the bowlers, the target set by SRH would've been much smaller.
“If we didn’t do that, we probably would have gone 140, and the game would have been over earlier. I’ve been in a lot of situations where you don’t score in that first couple of games, and then start searching. So luckily I don’t have to search anymore, but I need to make sure to keep my form and make sure to start over again,” he added.
How Klaasen keeps up after international cricket retirement?
Klaasen also opened up about how an 'eye gym' in Cape Town is keeping his reflexes sharp during off-season since he has retirement from international cricket. The 34-year-old also said that he is in sync and can face a 150kmph ball with ease.
“It’s all a personal programme for yourself, and it’s just a big tool to make decisions under pressure. It’s about a ten-minute session a day, and you make about four to five hundred decisions in that ten minutes under pressure, under a certain amount of time and reaction work,” Klaasen explained.
“I’m still keeping up with the pace of the game, and that’s kept me at ease. Not to play more cricket because 150 doesn’t feel 150 when you’re still seeing the ball nicely. When you feel out of sync, 135 feels like 150, and that’s not happening,” he further added.
Klaasen leads the orange cap race
Klaasen took the orange cap off Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper Shubman Gill's head. However, he has batted in two more innings than Gill. Currently, the SRH batter is on top with 283 runs from six innings at an average of 47.17 and strike rate of 144.38, including three half-centuries. Gill is now far behind with 251 runs from four innings.