Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2024: Former South Africa captain AB De Villiers heaped massive praise on his countryman Heinrich Klaasen for his remarkable performance in Sunrisers Hyderabad's first match of IPL 2024 on Saturday, March 23.

De Villiers went on to call Klaasen one of the best players in the world at the moment considering his top-notch form in the white-ball cricket. Klaasen set the Eden Gardens on fire with his power hitting in Match 3 of the IPL 2024 but couldn't take his team over the line. Chasing a massive target of 209 runs, SRH looked way behind towards the second half of their innings but Klaasen brought them back, scoring a fiery half-century. "I think SRH will be upset with how they started tonight. They had KKR in trouble and should've pushed through. One more wicket and this game would have been over. We know 200 is an average score at Eden Gardens, but the batting performance showed really nice composure and set it up nicely, said ABD. Klaasen took SRH on the cusp of victory but was dismissed for 63 with his side requiring five runs off the last ball which skipper Pat Cummins couldn't score. SRH needed 13 runs off the last over and Klaasen smashed a six on the very first delivery off Harshit Rana. The young pacer kept his calm and took the KKR team over the line by four runs, dismissing both Klaasen and Shahbaz Ahmed in the over. "Maybe they left it a little bit too late and asked too much of the batters like Klaasen, but the form the man is in, he is possibly the best player in the world right now. Why? He can go from gears one to five and five to one. He plays around and that's why I think he's one of the best in the world right now," de Villiers added. De Villiers, who featured in 184 IPL matches while representing Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (formerly known as Royal Challengers Bangalore), also lauded Andre Russell who was in magnificent touch with the bat. After being put into bat first, KKR posted a huge total of 208/7 in their 20 overs on the back of half-centuries from Phil Salt and Russel. While Salt provided a promising start with his contribution of 54 runs followed by a foundation laid by Ramandeep Singh with a quick cameo of 35 off 17, Russell was well-equipped for a perfect finish to KKR's innings. Russell remained unbeaten on 64 runs of just 25 balls with the help of three fours and seven sixes, helping the hosts post the first 200-plus total of this season. "You have to give him a lot of credit for how he played tonight. I didn't see him much last year and it must be tough for him. He doesn't play a lot of cricket these days, but to rock up to the IPL with a lot of pressure on him, he still has a price tag on his name," ABD said of Russell who also took two wickets with the ball. "Every season, he doesn't play well and there's a lot of criticism. It's easy to criticize but when the man steps up there and does what he does best, he wins games for KKR. That's what it comes down to. If he didn't play tonight, they wouldn't have won," he added. While SRH face Mumbai Indians in their next fixture, KKR will be up against arch-rivals RCB on Friday, March 29.