Former England batter Nick Knight said that Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) should promote wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen up the order, saying that the South African is capable of much more than batting down the order at number five or six. Klaasen’s remarkable 71 runs and his 99-run stand with Abhinav Manohar prevented SRH, struggling at 35/5, from avoiding a downright humiliation against Mumbai Indians (MI) at their home ground of Uppal Stadium on Thursday. Klaasen walked in with his side at 13/3 and produced a fighting knock that powered his side to 143/8 in their 20 overs, which MI chased down.

With 281 runs in eight matches at an average of 40.14, a strike rate of almost 160 and a half-century and no scores below 20, Klaasen has been SRH’s most consistent batter so far, with the top order of Travis Head (242 in eight matches with two fifties), Abhishek Sharma (240 runs in eight matches with a fifty) and Ishan Kishan (139 runs in eight matches with a century) producing some inconsistent performances and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (133 runs in eight matches with best score of 32) having a horror show of a season.

Former England batter Knight said on ESPNCricinfo’s TimeOut show, “Those of us who have seen him play over the years and those who are watching [know] that is what he is capable of and more. He just needs an opportunity to do it more often. I think he is batting far too low on that side. Six overs [or] a tick over, get him out there.”

It was game over [by then],” he added, emphasising the need for SRH to give Klaasen more time at the crease.

After the match in the post-match presser, SRH head coach Daniel Vettori had lauded Klaasen and Abhinav’s partnership, saying, “It is difficult to do [assess the par score and play accordingly] when you are 24 for 4 after the powerplay. But, Klaasen and Abhinav had a wonderful partnership and took some responsibility to try to get a score, but it wasn’t enough.”

Former Indian pacer Varun Aaron, also speaking on the same show, expressed agreement with Knight and was extremely happy with Klaasen sticking to his basics while batting.

“Just how still he is [at the crease], he just does not give the bowler anything before the bowler can bowl,” Aaron said. “Just still, hands through the ball, and it almost looks like he is not trying to overhit anything,” he added.

Coming to the match, MI won the toss and opted to field first. The five-time champions had SRH down and out at 35/5, but a 99-run stand between Heinrich Klaasen (71 in 44 balls, with nine fours and two sixes) and Abhinav Manohar (43 in 27 balls, with two fours and three sixes) took MI to 143/8 in their 20 overs.

Trent Boult was MI’s top wicket-taker with 4/26 in four overs. Deepak also picked 2/12 in four overs. Pandya and Bumrah got a wicket each.

During the run-chase, a 64-run stand between Will Jacks (22 in 19 balls, with two fours and a six) and Rohit Sharma and a 53-run stand between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav, propelled MI to an easy win by seven wickets in 15.4 overs. Rohit made his second successive fifty, scoring 70 in 46 balls, with eight fours and three sixes. Suryakumar finished unbeaten at 40* in 19 balls, with five fours and two sixes, with Tilak Varma (2*) unbeaten.

Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari and Jaydev Unadkat got a wicket each.

MI have climbed up to the third spot in the points table, with five wins and four losses, giving them 10 points and their fourth successive win. SRH is at ninth spot with two wins and six losses, giving them just four points.

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