Heinrich Klaasen smashed a record 37-ball hundred while Travis Head saved his best for the last in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) imposing 278 for 3, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the last IPL 2025 league encounter between the two teams in New Delhi on Sunday night (May 25).

Also read: Fastest hundreds in IPL

Sunrisers had started the season with a bang, posting 286 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their opening game. The SRH template was again visible in the final game as they put up yet another total that seemed unsurpassable.

Klaasen’s 105 Not Out

Head, whose form was a bit patchy during the better part of the tournament, was in his elements, scoring 76 off 40 balls with half a dozen sixes and as many boundaries.

But Klaasen (105 not out off 39 balls) was way more severe in completing his half-century off just 18 balls after being promoted at the fall of Abhishek Sharma (32 off 16 balls).

Klaasen’s 37-ball hundred is the joint third-fastest in the history of IPL, while SRH registered the third-highest team total in the league’s history.

The South African literally continued the mayhem, hitting seven fours and nine sixes, most of them into the second tier of the stands.

Klaasen muscled the KKR bowlers and the likes of Anrich Nortje (0/60 in 4 overs), Harshit Rana (0/40 in 3 overs), Varun Chakravarthy (0/54 in 3 overs) and Sunil Narine (2/42 in 4 overs) were all punished on one of the flattest decks on offer.

On a ground where SRH had set the new batting record in 2024, scoring 125 in Powerplay against Delhi Capitals, Head and his partner in crime, Abhishek added 79 in the first six overs to set the tone.

The Kotla track was one where any batter could just plonk his front foot and hit through the line or rock back to pull it over mid-wicket. Both Head and Abhishek initially made room and carted pacers over extra cover with utter disdain.

The KKR bowling attack has suffered a lot this season, whether it has been home or away games.

Lack of game time for Nortje

On smooth decks, their spinners Chakravarthy and Narine didn’t have enough bite, and when it came to the pacers, Harshit’s propensity to use cross-seam variations backfired badly.

Harshit of 2024 didn’t depend so much on slower deliveries and bowled the heavy deliveries, short-pitched stuff and hard length balls more frequently.

As far as Nortje is concerned, the lack of game time was apparent as this was his second match and throughout the duration, he kept searching for that ideal length where he could keep the batter quiet.

The only bowler to escape with slightly lesser punishment was Vaibhav Arora (1/39 in 4 overs).

(With agency inputs)