Heinrich Klaasen joins Yusuf Pathan to slam joint third fastest IPL century

Heinrich Klaasen joins Yusuf Pathan to slam joint third fastest IPL century (BCCI Photo)

Heinrich Klaasen smashed the third joint-fastest IPL century during the encounter between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. Klaasen took 37 balls to reach the triple digit mark and in the process Yusuf Pathan's record, who achieved the same while representing Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians in 2010.

Batting at a strike-rate of 269.23, Klaasen returned unbeaten on 105 off 39 balls, which featured seven boundaries and nine maximums. His effort combined with superb efforts by openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma drove Sunrisers to 278/3 after winning the toss and opting to bat. This is also the third-highest team total in the IPL.

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Klaasen was promoted to number 3, a move which perfectly worked for SRH. He arrived in the middle after Abhishek and Head launched fireworks and stitched 92 for the opening wicket. Sunil Narine broke the stand by removing Abhishek for 16-ball 32, following which Klaasen and Head continued the fireworks.

The duo added 83 off 35 balls for the second wicket, which was also scalped by Narine, who dismissed Head for 40-ball 76, a knock laced with six boundaries and the same number of maximums.

Klaasen then did the bulk of scoring as Ishan Kishan played the second fiddle. The pair took SRH to 258 before Vaibhav Arora removed Kishan for 29(20) in the 19th over.

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Fastest hundred in IPL (by balls faced)

30 - Chris Gayle (RCB) vs PWI, Bengaluru, 2013
35 - Vaibhav Suryavanshi (RR) vs GT, Jaipur, 2025
37 - Yusuf Pathan (RR) vs MI, Mumbai BS, 2010
37 - Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) vs KKR, Delhi, 2025*38 - David Miller (KXIP) vs RCB, Mohali, 2013

Speaking to the broadcaster at the mid-innings interval, Klaasen mentioned he was "very pleased" with the effort, also acknowledging "it’s been a long season of disappointment."

Reflecting on his performance, Klaasen added: "Luckily, I stuck to my processes and found my form now. The franchise spent a lot of time and money to play this brand of cricket, and it was up to us to step up to the mantle."