Klaasen: 'I owed it to the franchise to step up to the plate'

A lot of "individualistic pride" and the eagerness to perform for his family and franchise and end Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH's) disappointing season on a high, was the catalyst behind Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 39-ball 105 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday evening.

The 33-year-old smashed seven fours and nine sixes in the joint third-fastest century in IPL history, propelling SRH to a towering 278 for 3. In reply, KKR were bowled for 168 in 18.4 overs.

"I want to thank my family, and the franchise," Klaasen said after his innings. "They spend a lot of time and effort and a lot of money into this brand of cricket and we owe it to them to step up to the plate and dish out good performances.

"The franchise puts a lot of money into this. They've been around for 13, 14 years. And for us, we had a bad start to middle end of the competition and it just didn't look well on the field. For us to turn it around and we've played brilliant cricket over the last three and a half games. And to just give back to them as well."

Klaasen struck at 172.69 in IPL 2025 and has had plenty of starts in the 14 innings, but has only managed a fifty and a century. That he still finished the season as SRH's highest run-scorer with 487 runs showed that he wasn't able to build on the starts most times. What changed this evening?

"Not trying to hit every ball for six," Klaasen said. "I think that's where I went wrong this season. Hitting the hard length. [Sunil] Narine had a spell there that it was quite difficult to get away and I had to improvise a little bit. So, sticking to your hard length, mix it up and just play with his length is quite important.

"It's been a long season of disappointment and sometimes against your processes. Luckily, I stuck to it and finally I've got a little bit of reward tonight."

Klaasen was particularly severe on the pull which has been a standout feature of his career. It is a shot that has given Klaasen a lot of success but also some grief.

"I've worked a lot on it," Klaasen said. "It's been getting me out a couple of times now. So I had to spend a lot of time in the nets getting it right. Just making sure I'm picking the right length. Sometimes I challenge myself too much. But it's all part of growing and learning. What you can do and what you can't do."

Klaasen came in at No. 3 on Sunday but has also batted at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 this season. What, according to him, is his ideal entry point?

"Look, I'm a big situation player," Klaasen says. "That's the whole idea in the dugout as well. Sometimes it works out that you lose that wicket just off the powerplay or the back end of the powerplay and then I can go in. So it's normally around that fifth or sixth over or just after the powerplay. That's ideally when I want to go in. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I've still got to do the job."