Before the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) played Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2024 on Thursday (May 2), Aakash Chopra said Heinrich Klaasen needed to score runs.
SRH has 10 points from 9 matches and is in 5th place. If they beat the top team RR, they will have 12 points like two other teams. This will help their chances of making the playoffs.
In a video posted on his YouTube platform, Aakash Chopra singled out Klaasen as a standout player from the SunRisers Hyderabad team to keep an eye on in the upcoming Thursday match.
“Let’s go towards Heinrich Klaasen. It’s been a long time since he has hit. Travis Head is there at the start. He also does well generally but Heinrich Klaasen is that game-changer. Why am I saying that? (Ravichandran) Ashwin and Yuzi (Yuzvendra) Chahal will definitely come in front of them.”
“When the two spinners will come, who can hit them? I feel the game will probably be decided in the middle overs. This is not a game that will be decided in the first six overs. Heinrich Klaasen’s contest against the two spinners is something you want to watch closely.”
Aakash Chopra
Heinrich Klaasen has scored 295 runs with a high strike rate of 185.53 in nine innings of IPL 2024. But, the SRH wicketkeeper-batter has only scored 42 runs in his last three innings. He will want to contribute more runs against RR.
“He is not going for the World Cup, so he might be slightly hurt” – Aakash Chopra on SRH’s Abhishek Sharma
Cricket expert Aakash Chopra chose Abhishek Sharma as the second Sunrisers Hyderabad player to watch out for against Royals.
“If Pat Cummins wins the toss, I feel he should also bat first. Let others chase, you bat and get Abhishek Sharma to play. He plays incredibly well. He is not going for the World Cup, so he might be slightly hurt.”
“How well he is batting. If he keeps batting like this, he might play for India soon. You never know. Times are changing. The Indian selectors have already started focusing on the next generation.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra chose T Natarajan as the crucial bowler for the hosts.
“The third, I am thinking let’s go towards T Natarajan. The opposing team has Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson – who will stop them? You need T Natarajan to stop them. He is bowling well even with the new ball nowadays and bowls excellent yorkers in the death overs.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra recommended that SRH incorporate Mayank Markande into their starting lineup. He emphasized the importance of Aiden Markram, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Shahbaz Ahmed stepping up their contributions with the bat for the IPL 2016 champions.