New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) After his unbeaten 39-ball 105 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday evening got Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) a mammoth 110-run win to sign off from IPL 2025 on a high, Heinrich Klaasen said he was just very pleased to conclude the season on a winning note after overcoming struggles throughout the tournament.

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Klaasen made his promotion to number three count by striking the joint-third-fastest century in IPL off just 37 balls, as SRH finished with 278/3 on board – the third-highest total in the history of the tournament. His unbeaten knock was laced with nine sixes and seven fours coming at a strike rate of 269.23.

“It’s been a long season. I haven’t got a lot of starts, but I was hitting the ball nicely and got off to a good start again. I missed out the previous game on a very good wicket, so I’m just happy that I got the kick on here.”

“I don’t think I’ve hit it as nicely as I could. I didn’t pick some of the balls, which is a little bit disappointing. That could have made it even better. It was a little bit of a mental battle against myself. All in all, I’m just very pleased,” said Klaasen in a video posted on iplt20.com.

He was particularly severe in attacking the straight down the ground, cover and mid-wicket boundaries. That century also meant that Klaasen finished IPL 2025 with 487 runs coming at a strike rate of 172.69.

“We just want to be aggressive. The games that we won, that’s what we executed well, so it helps. Normally, you just need to be adaptable, which we didn’t do at the middle and beginning parts of the season. We found a little bit of the brand of cricket that we really want to play and just fine-tuned the brand that we wanted to play.”

“The last three and a half games have been phenomenal. We’ve got some big wins, so I think we’re getting to the brand that we want to play. We have about a win short this season to get us into the playoffs, so a lot of lessons learned, definitely,” he added.

He also lauded head coach Daniel Vettori and captain Pat Cummins for running the team well, though they finished at sixth place in the points table this season. “Look, Dan and Pat run the show and is just a nice tag to have. They’re unbelievable leaders.”

“Sometimes it’s just maybe if he second-guesses his decision or has a gut feeling and I say the right thing or the same thing, and that’s the only thing that goes by. They’re unbelievable this season again.”

Klaasen signed off by expressing gratitude to the franchise’s fans for supporting the side in home and away games. “The fans have been unbelievable. The Orange Army in the away games, we saw a lot of Orange shirts in the stands, especially Mumbai and even Chennai, which is a surprise to us. That means that we’re doing something right and that goes a long way.”

–IANS

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