South African wicket-keeper batter Heinrich Klaasen’s attacking century (104 off 51) propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to 186/5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match No. 65 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, here on Thursday.
After Klaasen, Harry Brook (27 off 19) was the second-best scorer for SRH. Both Klaasen and Brook stitched a quickfire stand of 74 runs for the fourth wicket.
Put in to bat first, Sunrisers Hyderabad were off to a slow start as RCB pacers Mohammed Siraj and Wayne Parnell kept the openers — Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi — on a tight leash.
SRH got some momentum in Parnell’s second over with the openers hitting the pacer for 16 runs. However, New Zealand spinner Michael Bracewell dismissed both openers in his first over to put a halt to the scoring rate.
Abhishek (11) got out while playing a cut shot while Tripathi (15) could only loft his shot to short fine-leg for a catch, leaving SRH at 28/2 after 4.3 overs. In-form Heinrich Klaasen then came to the party and hammered Shahbaz Ahmed for 16 off his first over, as SRH ended the Power-play with 49-2.
The decision from SRH management to send the in-form batter Klaasen up the order paid dividends as he continued his aggressive approach which resulted in a flurry of fours and sixes. On the other hand, skipper Aiden Markram was enjoying the show from the other end and happily playing the second fiddle as SRH raced to 81/2 after 10 overs.
In the very next over, Klaasen hit leg-spinner Karn Sharma for a six and took a few singles to complete his half-century in just 24 balls. RCB desperately needed a wicket and it was Shahbaz Ahmed, who broke the 76-run stand by removing Markram.
