PRETTY SPECIAL TO SCORE AN IPL HUNDRED, SAYS HEINRICH KLAASEN

Heinrich Klaasen came of age in the Indian Premier League on Thursday evening when he struck his maiden IPL century against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Klaasen showed in the Betway SA20 that he was capable of a three-figure score in the shortest format when he blasted 100 for Durban’s Super Giants against the Pretoria Capitals at Centurion.

He repeated the act at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium when he struck a brilliant 104 off just 51 balls (8×4, 6×6) for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

It was a “Klass-ic” IPL innings according to India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. He also received glowing praise from Sunrisers coach Brian Lara.

“Klaasen played his heart out for the team for the entire season,” Lara said. “He was rewarded tonight with a 100. 

“He showed his class once more, his determination and his commitment to Sunrisers.”

The hallmark of Klaasen’s innings – and in fact his entire game plan – is his ability to counter the spinners.

He is now ranked among the best players of spin the world, which is backed up by his strike rate of 194.02 against spin in this season’s IPL. It put him comfortably at the top of the list with Shivam Dube a distant second best at 172.64. 

Klaasen explained that there is nothing complicated about his tactics against spin and that he just tries to keep it “as simple as possible.”

“It’s a pretty special feeling (to hit a maiden IPL century). The crowd has been fantastic all season, so it’s really great to get the first one here at home,” he said.

“The wicket was a little bit slow, a bit of ‘stoppiness’ from the spinners and not as much steep bounce from the seamers.

“I try to keep it as simple as possible. The two factors that I focus on is that my head and hands have to be dead still. Sometimes I search for a bit of flow with my hands and then the movement up and down creates a little bit of inconsistency, so I just try to focus on keeping my hands and head dead still.”

Klaasen has finished as the Sunrisers’ leading run-scorer with 430 runs at an average of 53.75 this IPL season. His strike-rate is also an amazing 179.16.