Amid all the Faf, Heinrich Klaasen's batting stats shine up well at sinking Sunrisers

Things have not been going Sunrisers Hyderabad's way in the 2023 IPL, and Monday's 34-run loss to Gujarat Titans saw their playoff hopes extinguished. 

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The Aiden Markram-captained outfit are now second-bottom on the table with just four victories from 12 fixtures, and they cannot make the the top four, regardless of what happens over the next six matches. 

It just hasn't been their season, but one man who has been keeping Sunrisers in the fight is Proteas wicketkeeper/batsman Heinrich Klaasen. 

The 31-year-old was at it again in Ahmedabad on Monday, with his knock of 64 (44) in vain as Sunrisers could only muster 154/9 in their pursuit of the 189 they needed. 

From a South African perspective, there has been understandable hype surrounding the form of Faf du Plessis in this year's competition, but Klaasen has quietly gone about compiling some very impressive numbers, too. 

Du Plessis has been otherworldly, and his 631 runs in 12 innings at an average of 57.36 and strike rate of 154.27 make him comfortably the tournament's leading run scorer. Remarkably, Du Plessis has now scored seven half-centuries in this year's competition. 

Klaasen, meanwhile, has had a consistent run of games that has seen him climb the run-scoring charts, too. 

He is comfortably the leading run-scorer in the Sunrisers squad and has now amassed 326 runs in just 9 innings at a very healthy average of 46.57 and a superb strike rate of 172.48. 

64 (44) v GT

47 (29) v LSG

26 (12) v RR

36 (20) v KKR

53* (27) v DC

Markram, meanwhile, has been disappointing in his maiden season of IPL captaincy, both in terms of results and with the bat. He has scored just one half-century in 11 knocks and 211 runs at an average of 21.10 and a strike rate of 127.64. 

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