Heinrich Klaasen is one of the best in the world: AB de Villiers

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pulled off a four-run win in a last-over thriller against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2024, at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 23. Batting first, KKR had put up a total of 208 runs, which SRH came close to beating before falling short. JioCinema IPL expert AB de Villiers discussed the impressive performances by Heinrich Klaasen (63 runs), and Andre Russell (64* runs, 2/25), on ‘Match Centre Live’.

Excerpts:

AB de Villiers on Heinrich Klaasen: I think SRH will be upset with how they started tonight. They had KKR in trouble and should've pushed through. One more wicket and this game would have been over. We know 200 is an average score at the Eden Gardens, but the batting performance showed really nice composure and set it up nicely. Maybe they left it a little bit too late and asked too much of the batters like Klaasen, but the form the man is in, he is possibly the best player in the world right now. Why? He can go from gears one to five and five to one. He plays around and that's why I think he's one of the best in the world right now."

Also read: There is no outfield big enough for Andre Russell when he's smashing the ball: Brian Lara

de Villiers on Andre Russell: "You have to give him a lot of credit for how he played tonight. I didn't see him much last year and it must be tough for him. He doesn't play a lot of cricket these days, but to rock up to the IPL with a lot of pressure on him, he still has a price tag on his name. Every season, he doesn't play well and there's a lot of criticism. It's easy to criticize but when the man steps up there and does what he does best, he wins games for KKR. That's what it comes down to. If he didn't play tonight, they wouldn't have won.