Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Heinrich Klaasen will have a tough time justifying his hefty price tag in IPL 2025. The South African was retained by the runners-up for a whooping Rs 23 crore, surpassing Virat Kohli to become the highest retained player in the tournament’s history. His salary, which was previously Rs 5.25 crore in 2024, has now seen a massive jump. In the ongoing edition of the tournament, Klaasen has a lot of challenges that might deter him from justifying his price tag.
Can Klaasen prove his worth in IPL 2025?
Klaasen was among the top-run getters for SRH in IPL 2024. He amassed 479 runs in 16 matches averaging 39.91, putting up some stellar performances despite having limited game time. He batted at number 5 in most of the matches in the previous edition of the tournament. However, this time, he will have to step up his game, given the increase in his salary.
Now, there are two main challenges to Klaasen’s success. Firstly, his form. While the Proteas star managed to score two half-centuries in the last 4 ODIs he played, his form in T20s has been rather poor. In the recently concluded SA20 tourney, the only amassed 198 runs in 10 matches, with a highest score of 76 not out. His run included just two fifties. He will have to do much better than that in IPL 2025 in order to prove his worth.
| Matches | Runs | HS | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s |
| 35 | 993 | 104 | 38.19 | 168.30 | 1 | 6 |
Secondly, he will only get limited game time once again, given that most of the batting will be done by Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. The SRH openers are in the form of their lives and will not give up their wickets that easily. Ishan Kishan, the latest addition to the team, is expected to bat at number 3. This means that Klaasen will get very little time in the middle to score runs, unless SRH face an unlikely collapse.
SRH’s strongest playing XI
| Position | Number | Role |
| 1. | Travis Head  | Batter |
| 2. | Abhishek Sharma | Batter |
| 3. | Ishan Kishan (WK) | Batter-Keeper |
| 4. | Heinrich Klaasen | Batter |
| 5. | Nitish Kumar Reddy | All-rounder |
| 6. | Pat Cummins (C) | All-rounder |
| 7. | Kamindu Mendis | All-rounder |
| 8. | Rahul Chahar | Bowler |
| 9. | Mohammed Shami | Bowler |
| 10. | Harshal Patel | Bowler |
| 11. | Jaydev Unadkat | Bowler |
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