Heinrich Klaasen smashes 100 but SRH miss 300 mark; fans back Aniket Verma over Ishan Kishan

After Chennai Super Kings (CSK) surprised everyone this afternoon by securing only their 4th win in their final league match ¡ª and that too against the No. 1 IPL 2025 team, Gujarat Titans (GT) ¡ª another lower-ranked team, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), has delivered a spectacular performance. Playing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, SRH opted to bat first and went on to post a staggering total of 278 against the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

This total now stands as the third-highest in IPL history and unsurprisingly, all of the top three highest totals in the tournament's history have come from this very franchise. Every SRH batter contributed to the scoreboard, showcasing the team's depth and aggressive intent.

Innings Break!#SRH register #TATAIPL's third-highest total courtesy of Heinrich Klaasen's blazing ton! ?

Will #KKR chase it down and rewrite history?

Scorecard ? https://t.co/4Veibn1bOs #TATAIPL | #SRHvKKR pic.twitter.com/zxPKCjDII8

¡ª IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 25, 2025

Heinrich Klaasen smashes 100

KKR's Vaibhav Arora began with a tight over, but Travi-Shek (Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma) made sure SRH got off to a flying start. The duo powered their team to 79 runs in the Powerplay. However, Abhishek fell to Sunil Narine for 32 off 16 balls, prompting SRH to promote Heinrich Klaasen to No. 3.

Travis Head continued his aggressive approach, scoring 76 off 40 deliveries, but it was Klaasen who stole the show, remaining unbeaten with a blistering 105 off just 39 balls. His explosive innings included 7 fours and 9 sixes. His partners, Ishan Kishan (29 off 20) and Aniket Verma (12 off 6), also chipped in with valuable contributions.

Breathtaking and Belligerent ?

Describe Heinrich Klaasen's second #TATAIPL ? in one word ?

Scorecard ? https://t.co/4Veibn1bOs #SRHvKKR | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/HOIgoCYtTO

¡ª IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 25, 2025

Fans back Aniket Verma over Ishan Kishan

While many praised SRH's explosive batting performance on X (formerly known as Twitter), some fans suggested that the team could have reached the 300-run mark if Aniket Verma had batted ahead of Ishan Kishan.

Others questioned why SRH hadn't played this brand of cricket throughout the season and chose to deliver such performances only in their final two league-stage matches.

One said, "SRH and CSK players suddenly got motivated after being knocked out of the league."

SRH aur CSK ka players league ke baad mai jake motivated ho gya ?

¡ª Sudipta (@viratinveins) May 25, 2025

Another said, "Just imagine if Aniket had come in to bat instead of Ishan Kishan."

Just imagine if Aniket has come to bat in place of Ishan Kishan.
300 kotte vaallam!

¡ª SRHFans (@SRHFans4ever) May 25, 2025

One wrote, "SRH bottled an easy 300."

SRH bottled a easy 300?

¡ª Adiii (@bholistan18) May 25, 2025

Another added, "If Ishan Kishan had scored even 50 in the 20 balls he faced, 300 would have been a cakewalk for SRH."

If Ishan Kishan had scored 50 in the 20 balls he faced 300 would have been a cake walk for SRH

Monstrous batting from #klaasen dominated from ball 1#SRHvKKR

¡ª dude101 (@aazzziiii9) May 25, 2025

SRH vs KKR: Teams

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy
Impact Subs: Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga
Impact Subs: Mohammad Shami, Harsh Dubey, Sachin Baby, Zeeshan Ansari, Simarjeet Singh.