Another Sunrisers Hyderabad game. Another manic display of extraordinary six-hitting. Since the coming together of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen ahead of IPL 2024, Pat Cummins’ men have displayed a happy knack of mounting stratospheric totals that leave bowlers in a state of utter despair.
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Sunrisers were at it again at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday. Even though this has been a disheartening season after their runners-up finish last year, their final league game against Kolkata Knight Riders saw them produce a batting spectacle replete with power and panache.
Riding on Klaasen’s unbeaten 105 off 39 balls and Head’s 40-ball 76, SRH amassed 278 for three – the second-highest total this season and third-best overall – and clinched a resounding 110-run win to cap off the campaign. KKR’s chase was derailed early as it lost five wickets in the first eight overs. Harsh Dubey, Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga snared three scalps each as Ajinkya Rahane’s team folded for 168.
On the night, Klaasen was the beating heart of the Sunrisers unit. The South African dasher took just 37 deliveries to bring up his ton, making it the joint-third-fastest in 18 editions of the tournament.
The destructive opening pair of Head and Abhishek set off the fireworks as Sunrisers surged to 79 for none at the end of the PowerPlay.
A sedate opening over by Vaibhav Arora, which went for two runs, turned out to be the proverbial lull before the storm. The carnage began with Head dispatching a short ball by Anrich Nortje for six in the second over.
Even KKR’s mystery-spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy couldn’t quell the boundary-hitting madness. While Abhishek’s dismissal in the seventh over ended a 92-run stand, Klaasen proved to be an even greater menace for KKR with his pyrotechnics.
In the over that Head brought up his half-century with a maximum, Klaasen struck the first of his nine sixes. The ball from Varun was only fractionally short, but the 33-year-old picked up the length in a jiffy and carted it beyond the deep square-leg fence. The stage was set, thereafter, for Klaasen to vanquish every KKR bowler in his sight.
