Heinrich Klaasen smashed Mitchell Starc for three sixes in the 19th over and almost took SRH to an improbable victory.
A thrilling encounter was witnessed at the Eden Gardens on Saturday (March 23) in which Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4 runs. At one stage, SRH were struggling and losing wickets. It seemed like KKR will register an easy win here but Heinrich Klaasen had other ideas.
SRH needed 81 runs in the last five overs. The equation soon became 60 runs from 3 overs and the game seemed to slip out of the hands for the Sunrisers. But Klaasen and Shahbaz Ahmed hit three sixes off Varun Chakravarthy in the 18th over.
With 39 runs still needed from the last 12 balls and Mitchell Starc bowling the penultimate over, KKR had the match in grasp until what happened next. Starc was taken to the cleaners by Klaasen as he hit him for 3 sixes in the over. If this wasn’t enough, Shahbaz Ahmed too hit Starc’s last ball for a six over deep backward square leg.
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Heinrich Klaasen completed his fifty from just 25 balls when he hit Starc for a superb six over extra cover in the 19th over of the innings. This was his third six of the over in four balls and he brought SRH back into the match. KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir was in shock after watching the carnage happening in front of him.
Starc’s final over went for 26 runs with SRH looking on track to register a dramatic win here. Klaasen clubbed the first ball of the final over bowled by Harshit Rana for a six but that turned out to be the last boundary of the day for SRH.
Harshit Rana held his nerve and dismissed both Shahbaz and Klaasen in the next four balls with his change of pace. The youngster bowled another slower ball to deceive Pat Cummins in the final ball to give KKR some crucial points in their home game.
Mitchell Starc went for 27 runs in his first three overs but Klaasen’s last over exploits ruined his figures. Notably, Starc became the most expensive player in the IPL when he was signed by KKR for a whopping sum of INR 24.75 crore. He is making a comeback in the IPL after a gap of 9 years.
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