Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra hailed Heinrich Klaasen’s blistering knock against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday. After Michael Bracewell accounted for Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi in the fifth over of the innings, Klaasen joined forces with skipper Aiden Markram.
Klaasen, who has been in top form, got off the mark with a boundary and he was able to hit the ground running. The South African took the attack against Shahbaz Ahmed and Karn Sharma as he showed his class against the spinners.
Klaasen reached his maiden IPL century in 49 balls, which is the second-fastest for SRH. The right-hander scored 104 runs off just 51 balls with the help of eight fours and six maximums. In fact, Klaasen played proper cricketing shots and didn’t take any unwanted risks in the early stages of his innings despite playing at a high strike rate.
Klaasen’s knock helped SRH in reaching a par score of 186 runs on the board after Faf du Plessis won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “The way Klaasen is batting, no overseas player is playing spin better than him. In fact, he is giving a masterclass on playing against spin to every player who is playing this tournament.”
The right-hander used the depth of the crease to great effect and scored his runs all-round the ground and the renowned commentator hailed him for the same.
“He is playing extremely well. In the last match, the match before that, and in this match, his play against spin was absolutely stellar. He is playing very well by using the depth of the crease. None of the other players (SRH batters) fired, that is also par for the course.”
Klaasen has been in top form in IPL 2023 as he has scored 430 runs in 10 innings at an average of 53.75 and a blistering strike rate of 179.17.
On the other hand, former KKR player lauded Faf du Plessis for his consistent form. Faf is currently the leading run-getter of IPL 2023 with 702 runs at an average of 58.50 and a strike rate of 153.95 in 13 matches. The right-hander has scored eight half-centuries for RCB.
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