Klaasen's 37-ball ton gives SRH a winning end to the season

Heinrich Klaasen treated the Delhi crowd to a superlative 37-ball century as Sunrisers Hyderabad closed out their underwhelming season with a massive win over 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders. Klaasen smashed seven fours and nine sixes on his way to a whirlwind unbeaten 105 as SRH posted the third highest total in IPL history - 278 - and defended it comfortably.

Where the game was won:

Middle overs. SRH smashed 125 runs in this period, with 92 of it coming in just fours and sixes. This was when Klaasen flexed his big-hitting muscles and Rahane and his star spinners just did not have any answers for it. In contrast, KKR lost two of the big hitters - Rinku Singh and Andre Russell - to the spin of Harsh Dubey and fell way behind in chase.

The difference

PowerPlay: Travis, Abhishek get started with the carnage

Phase score - 79/0 [RR:, 4s/6s: 9/4]

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma put on the opening act before the Klassen Show stormed the next two phases. The duo kickstarted the carnage in the second over from Anrich Nortje, taking 20 off it. Head then laid into Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana as SRH got to 55 in just four overs. Abhishek attempted to catch up to his opening partner in the fifth over, hitting Nortje for two fours but Head stole another big march by capping off the PowerPlay with a six and a four in a 13-run sixth over.

Middle-overs: 200 up already!

Phase score - 125/2 [RR: 13.89, 4s/6s: 8/10]

The KKR bowlers truly felt the heat of facing a batting line-up like SRH in a skewed venue like Delhi through this breathtaking phase of play. Abhishek smashed two successive sixes and perished on the next ball off Sunil Narine in the seventh over, taking the West Indian's wickets tally in the format to 209 - the most in men's cricket. SRH unleashed Klaasen at one of KKR's biggest strengths - their spinners, and came away well on top. At first, Klaasen watched on as Head continued to throw his bat at almost every delivery en route to a 26-ball half-century - his third of the season. But in the same over - from Varun CV, Klaasen hit the first of his nine sixes - also his 300th in the format.

After conceding 16 in his first over, Varun CV went for 20 in his next over as both Head and Klaasen continued the offensive against spin. Head started off with a six and Klaasen hit a hattrick of fours to take SRH to a jaw-dropping 139/1 at the half-way stage. Ajinkya Rahane looked in different directions for bowling options, but couldn't find one to put a lid on the run-making. Andre Russell was welcomed with a 17-run over and Harshit Rana returned to concede 22 as Klaasen went after him with a four and two sixes and reached his 17-ball fifty. Narine earned his side a breather in the 13th over, conceding just one run and dismissing Head. But Klaasen made up for the six-ball lull by smashing Narine for two sixes in his next to take SRH past 200 with 32 balls still to go.

Death-overs: Klaasen gets 37-ball ton

Phase score - 74/1 [RR: 14.8, 4s/6s: 6/5]

Ishan Kishan slowed SRH down a touch but Klaasen was nonetheless on course to a record century. He eventually got there off 37 balls - joint-third fastest with Yusuf Pathan. Kishan too added to SRH's burgeoning tally of fours and sixes too, before falling to Arora in the penultimate over for 29 off 20 balls. Arora's seven-run over was the only one in the death where SRH got single-digit scores as the Klaasen carnage went well into the death overs. He punished Varun once again with two sixes and took on Russell and Nortje. SRH finished their incredible innings on 278/3 - with 22 fours and 19 sixes.

Kolkata Knight Riders

PowerPlay: Unadkat sullies KKR's fast start

Phase score - 59/2 [RR: 9.83, 4s/6s: 7/3]

Staring at a mountain of runs to chase down, Sunil Narine started off with three sixes and two fours off two Pat Cummins overs. Jaydev Unadkat however, cleaned him up with an off-cutter that the West Indian failed to read. With this, KKR became only the third team in the history of the tournament to not have an opening stand worth 50 runs in an entire season. KKR bowlers didn't resort to change of pace but it came in handy in the second innings as Unadkat repeatedly showed on the night. Ajinkya Rahane arrived all guns blazing to keep KKR's scoring rate at 10 an over but Unadkat clipped his wings in the sixth over with another cutter as the KKR captain miscued a big hit and was caught at cover.

Middle-overs: Dubey, Malinga derail KKR

Phase score - 71/5 [RR: 7.89, 4s/6s: 3/5]

Eshan Malinga ended Quinton de Kock's misery in the middle by taking him out in the seventh over. KKR quickly slipped to 70/5 in the eighth over as left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey struck twice in two balls. Rinku Singh smashed a low full-toss straight into the hands of Nitish Reddy at deep square leg while Andre Russell was bamboozled by drift and turn to get squared up and trapped leg before. Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Manish Pandey dragged the chasing side to 81/5 at the halfway mark but Malinga returned in the 12th over to end that partnership. He too went for change of pace and had Raghuvanshi miscuing his shot deep square leg. Dubey picked his third when he cleaned up Ramandeep Singh in the 14th over to leave KKR seven down and on the verge of massive defeat. Harshit Rana arrived with other intentions as he hit two sixes off Abhishek.

Death overs: Unadkat wraps up big win

Phase score - 38/3 [RR: 10.36, 4s/6s: 1/4]

The equation was gargantuan but Manish Pandey took to it with three sixes off Malinga in a 21-run over. He and Rana added 52 off 22 balls before Unadkat ended the stand with Pandey's wicket. A switch to a drier ball before the over seemed to have done the trick as Unadkat dished out another slower one for a wicket. Arora was then run on the next ball, failing to ground his bat as he perhaps didn't expect Unadkat to take a shy at the stumps at his end. Malinga then took out Harshit in the penultimate over to pick up a 110-run victory.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 278/3 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 105*, Travis Head 76; Sunil Narine 2-42) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 168 in 18.4 overs (Manish Pandey 37; Jaydev Unadkat 3-24, Eshan Malinga 3-31, Harsh Dubey 3-34) by 110 runs