The South African has been away from the intensity and grind of international cricket for nearly a year, a gap that can unsettle even the most seasoned players in a format as unforgiving as Twenty20.<\/p>\n
Determined to stay competitive, Klaasen explored new ways to keep himself in rhythm. If the first three matches are any indication, those efforts have paid off handsomely. With 145 runs at a strike rate of 147.95, including two half-centuries, the Sunrisers Hyderabad star has not only found his groove but also shifted the pressure firmly onto the opposition\u2014and then some.<\/p>\n
In a media interaction facilitated by the JioStar Press Room<\/i>, Klaasen reflected on his form and that of his team, his dominance against spin, his electric partnership with Nitish Kumar Reddy, and more.<\/p>\n
Q: Starting the IPL with back-to-back 50s must feel good…<\/b><\/p>\n
A: Unfortunately we\u2019ve lost two games, but on a personal note, it\u2019s been a good start. One of my biggest concerns was not playing as much cricket as I used to. \u2018Can I still keep up with the standard that I set myself with?\u2019 It\u2019s been a pretty good start and hopefully this form will continue.<\/p>\n
How have you adapted to stepping away from international cricket?<\/b><\/p>\n
International cricket is a big miss in my game, but there are small things that I do that just keep me up to the pace of normal cricket speed. I\u2019ve been working with a lady in Cape Town called Sherylle, who\u2019s an eye doctor. We call it an EyeGym. It just helps you make a lot of decisions under pressure and in a certain amount of time. That has been working for me over the last year in making sure that my decision-making and reaction times are good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just that one percent that you have to take a little bit more care of and give yourself a little bit more training right before coming into a competition like this. Normally, you can have a week or two off before you come into a long tournament like this. I just had to change my training schedules and make small tweaks like that to make sure that I get up to speed as quickly as I can.<\/p>\n
How would you assess Sunrisers Hyderabad\u2019s performances so far?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s a tough question. I will give us about a six at this moment.<\/p>\n
We have played some brilliant cricket in parts, but we\u2019re just losing the plot in the crucial phases of the game. We lose it so badly that it just puts us out of the game entirely. If you take the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, we lost three wickets in the PowerPlay. Same against Lucknow Super Giants.<\/p>\n
I honestly do think the bowlers are hanging on exactly as planned. That aspect is doing very well. The rest of the batting unit is doing well. There are a lot of positives. I\u2019ll say about 80 per cent positive.<\/p>\n
READ: The Space Between:\u00a0Vyshak Vijaykumar\u00a0on a journey to find himself<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Our fielding in the first two games hasn\u2019t been up to standard at all. In our last game, against LSG, it was better. We\u2019re working on that, and we\u2019re setting a new standard for ourselves to put teams under pressure and make sure we hang on to our catches. But it\u2019s not at the standard that we set for ourselves, as it stands.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll give us a six and not go with seven, which is an easy cop out. We want to get to eight and nine to make sure that we get some momentum. There\u2019s no panic in the changing room yet. We\u2019re looking forward to getting on a roll and putting all three compartments of the game together.<\/p>\n SRH\u2019s batting lineup is probably the most fearsome in the league. But with Pat Cummins missing, there are some concerns over the bite in the bowling unit, at least on paper. What do you make of it?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Our batting has been good so far, but we\u2019ve missed out on about 40 runs over the three games. So there\u2019s still a lot of work to do for our batters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Obviously, if you miss a bowler like Pat Cummins, it\u2019s a loss for any team in any format. Same with (Brydon) Carse. The rest of the bowlers are super experienced, especially our pace department. The wickets have been good in the two games in which we struggled in. We just didn\u2019t execute with the bat like we wanted. It\u2019s easy to say our bowlers don\u2019t have the experience or are under the pump, but in the two games that we\u2019ve lost, the batters left about 20 to 30 runs on the board.<\/p>\n \n Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Pat Cummins during a warm-up session. We saw it against KKR, we put enough runs on the board\u2026 That\u2019s our job. We need to get to that 220-230 mark. That\u2019s why we have set up the team we have now, so we give our bowlers a proper chance at defending.<\/p>\n SRH\u2019s spin pool looks relatively inexperienced with players like Harsh Dubey and Shivang Kumar. What have you made of their ability to work under pressure? Is that lack of experience really such a big factor, especially in the middle overs?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n They\u2019ve been fantastic so far. Our fielding has been poor against them, so that makes their figures look bad. The team should take it on the chin and keep encouraging them to do what they do. Having faced them in the nets, I can tell you that they may be inexperienced on paper, but they\u2019re definitely experienced in playing the game and know what to do with the plan.<\/p>\n They bowl extremely well. They haven\u2019t really played on wickets that have been spinning too much. They\u2019re just hanging on at the moment, picking up crucial wickets when we need it. I can\u2019t wait till we get to a wicket that just suits them a little bit more, and then people will see the brilliant skill set that they have.<\/p>\n What do you make of Ishan Kishan, the captain, so far?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n He\u2019s been superb so far. He\u2019s a guy who asks for advice. We\u2019ve got a lot of experience in the changing room, so he leans on that as well. But his decision-making, the way he changes the bowler, the way the team listens to him, has been phenomenal so far.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in superb hands and luckily, he\u2019s not an arrogant guy at all, which makes it a lot easier. He\u2019s a really enjoyable captain to play under. There are a lot of jokes in between which helps because this game brings quite a tough environment to play in. He\u2019s been superb and he has had some success in the domestic scene as well. I think his domestic team won a competition recently, so there\u2019s a lot of experience in that aspect.<\/p>\n TraviShek\u2019s wonderful starts – how much of a cushion does that give the team?<\/b><\/p>\n It depends on how you see it. Sometimes, when they go at 14 or 15 an over, you feel like the wicket is extremely flat or they make it look flat and you want to keep up with that pace. Sometimes that can put you under pressure a bit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head bumps fists with Abhishek Sharma. \n Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head bumps fists with Abhishek Sharma. But having played with them for three seasons now, I do understand that you can play on tempo as well. They give you the luxury to hold on and get yourself in and then go again so that the run rate never really drops below 11 or 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n How has your role in this side evolved?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s a role that I\u2019ve played my whole life and in my whole career. You have to adapt to those situations and you have to be able to play different roles in the team. My role in the team is to keep on going if TraviShek and Ishan have put the opposition under pressure. But the days that doesn\u2019t happen, I need to make sure we get into a position to defend a total.\u00a0<\/p>\n I know that\u2019s my role. I have to play four or five different games, but that\u2019s just what is required to be a professional cricketer at this moment. Every game is going to present different situations. It takes a different set of skills to understand those things and execute plans accordingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n You have a great partnership going with Nitish Kumar Reddy. How are you both finding a rhythm in the middle order?<\/b><\/p>\n It helps when you play together for a couple of years. You start to understand each other, you understand what makes each other tick. Our communication this season has been incredible. We\u2019ve been taking a lot of pressure off each other, especially from his side. He\u2019s been taking a lot of pressure off me at the start of my innings. So a lot of credit needs to go to Nitish. He\u2019s in form at the moment, so that makes it a lot easier as well to drop and change our plans as we go and to identify the bowlers each of us likes to take down.<\/p>\n He reminds me of playing with David Miller. In your career, you get a few guys you just enjoy batting with. Nitish is extremely quick so when you feel like you\u2019re under pressure a bit, you can always run two or three and make the over a little easier instead of just searching for boundaries. Running between the wickets becomes a crucial part of the game then. I love seeing him grow as well. It\u2019s just been fantastic this season and hopefully we can put on a couple of bigger partnerships.<\/p>\n You have been known as the spin destroyer of SRH. How did that come about for you?<\/b><\/p>\n South Africa has some quality spinners and I\u2019ve played a lot of four-day cricket at a stage where my career really needed it. It is a stage where probably all of those spinners played four-day cricket as well.<\/p>\n I\u2019m used to the ball turning away from me. I faced a lot of Tabraiz Shamsi in the nets, who is a quality spinner as well. A lot of training, a lot of hours have been spent experimenting. I\u2019ve been in India for five to six years now. Over the years, I\u2019ve gained some experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier in my career, we went to Sri Lanka, where the ball actually spun quite a bit. We had to figure things out for ourselves and learn new tricks. I\u2019m very blessed to be able to play spin well. It\u2019s always a challenge to keep taking them on because I know they\u2019re looking to get my wicket.<\/p>\n Is it safe to say that you love playing in India against the spinners specifically?<\/b><\/p>\n The boundaries here are not the biggest in the world. We\u2019re used to some big boundaries. But the wickets are fantastic, so it\u2019s a nice place to come to. It\u2019s still a big challenge. I know they\u2019re coming for me and they know I\u2019m coming for them. This season, I see that they\u2019ve got a couple of game plans, so I need to get back to doing some good homework against them and finding new ways of scoring against them.<\/p>\n Is there any Indian spinner that you enjoy playing against the most?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s an easy answer, Yuzi (Yuzvendra) Chahal. We\u2019ve had a few great battles over the last couple of years. He\u2019s a quality bowler and very clever. I think we\u2019re about 50-50 on winning those battles. He\u2019s a good mate of mine as well, which makes it even better to fight against him on the pitch.<\/p>\n You are going to play against CSK soon, who are struggling this year. The unavailability of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, how big is that an advantage for you guys?<\/b><\/p>\n They\u2019ve obviously got an incredible IPL record and they\u2019ve always been a strong side. Not having Dhoni doesn\u2019t make them less of a good side and the players they have currently are unbelievable as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u2019re going to get (Dewald) Brevis back. So that\u2019s going to strengthen their middle order. The two openers haven\u2019t really scored anything yet, so they\u2019re due for runs. It\u2019s not going to be an easy game. Hopefully their form continues to struggle a little bit against us so we can really put them under pressure. But they\u2019re always a good side.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s always nice (to) play against them because you want to play against the best sides in the world. Dhoni not being there doesn\u2019t really make a difference, because he\u2019s still in the dugout sharing his experience with the guys. Normally, over the last few seasons, he probably bats the last 10 balls only anyway. So it\u2019s the other guys in the team that you have to worry about more.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the mood in the camp when you face a side like CSK? Does it feel like just another game or does the prospect of facing a team like that brings that extra intensity into the setup?<\/b><\/p>\n Look, it\u2019s always fun playing against them and knowing that our owners are also coming from Chennai, they do put an emphasis on that. We need to beat them. There will always be added pressure on that game, but it\u2019s still a good game. 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