Mullanpur (Punjab) [India], April 9 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Punjab Kings (PBKS), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Heinrich Klaasen sent some big hits into the skies with his “rocket launcher”.
SRH will be locking horns with PBKS at the Mullanpur Stadium on Tuesday. SRH is at the fifth spot in the points table with two wins and two losses. In sixth place is Punjab, who also have the same win-loss ratio and points as SRH, but are below them due to an inferior net run rate.
SRH took to X to post a video of the explosive right-hander.
“HK with a rocket-launcher disguised as a cricket bat,” tweeted SRH.
HK with a rocket-launcher disguised as a cricket bat 🫠🚀 pic.twitter.com/xseLBpdHNI
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 9, 2024
Klaasen is one of the most brutal hitters in T20 cricket and has shaped his reputation as a short-format specialist over the last couple of years. He is the seventh-highest run-getter in the IPL 2024, with 177 runs in four innings at an average of 88.50, with two half-centuries. His runs have come at a strike rate of 203.44. His best score is 80*.
After brief and unremarkable stints with Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2018 and 2019, Klaasen made a memorable return to IPL last year with SRH. Though the Orange Army had a poor season with a bottom-place finish after winning just four matches out of 14, Klaasen carried SRH’s inconsistent batting line-up and entertained fans. In 12 matches, he scored 448 runs at an average of 49.77 and a strike rate of 177.07, scoring a century and two fifties in 11 innings. His best score was 104.
Punjab Kings Squad: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Harpreet Brar, Ashutosh Sharma, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Liam Livingstone, Rilee Rossouw, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Chris Woakes, Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Nitish Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan, Travis Head, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Upendra Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh. (ANI)
