Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has had a forgettable campaign in IPL 2025 so far, with just two wins in eight matches, and their playoff hopes are diminishing with each loss. With the team’s top-order failures, their star batter Heinrich Klaasen has always come out to rescue with those runs in the later stages of the innings.
The South African wicketkeeper-batter has been SRH’s lone fighter with the bat, yet continues to come in too low in the order, something former England cricketer Nick Knight believes needs immediate correction.
Knight’s revelation came after Klaasen’s 71 off 44 against Mumbai Indians (MI), where he walked in at No. 5 with SRH struggling at 13 for 3. Despite the early collapse, they were 35 for 5 in the ninth over as Klaasen stitched a 99-run partnership with Impact Player Abhinav Manohar to take SRH’s total to 143/8.
“Those of us who’ve seen him play over the years and those who are watching [know] that’s what he is capable of and more. He just needs an opportunity to do it more often. I think he is batting far too low in that side. Six overs [or] a tick over, get him out there,” Nick Knight said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show.
With 281 runs from eight innings at an average of 40.14 and a strike rate of 159.65, the right-hand batter sits just outside the Orange Cap top 10. His lowest score this season has been an unbeaten 21 against the Punjab Kings. Meanwhile, Knight’s co-panellist Varun Aaron also praised Klaasen’s abilities.
“Just how still he is [at the crease], he just doesn’t give the bowler anything before the bowler can bowl. Just still, hands through the ball, and it almost looks like he isn’t trying to overhit anything. They can’t second-guess themselves now. When we talk about Bazball, or the style of cricket SRH is playing, it’s given them results last year. They came back last year after being eighth and tenth the previous two years to play in the finals last year. So, that has given them results. It’s not worked out this year,” Aaron said.
Head coach Daniel Vettori, while speaking on Klaasen’s contributions, mentioned that SRH’s openers, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, will continue to play aggressively upfront.
“It’s difficult to do [assess the par score and play accordingly] when you’re 24 for 4 after the powerplay. But Klaasen and Abhinav had a wonderful partnership and took some responsibility to try to get a score, but it wasn’t enough,” SRH head coach Daniel Vettori said at the press conference.
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