Heinrich Klaasen has a dominant record against KKR spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy in T20s. The SRH wicketkeeper-batter will be key against KKR in his side’s IPL 2026 fixture on Thursday. Both sides lost their opening games and will be seeking two points at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
KKR lost to MI in their opening, by six wickets. Meanwhile, SRH fell to a six-wicket defeat too, against Rajat Patidar’s RCB.
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Other than their opening pair of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and skipper Ishan Kishan at No. 3, Klaasen will be crucial in the middle order. He has never been dismissed by Narine in eight T20 innings and has registered 85 runs in 52 deliveries at a strike rate of 163.46. Although he has been dismissed by Varun thrice in nine T20 innings, he has also smacked him for 112 runs in 53 balls, and boasts a strike rate of 211.32 against the India international.
In IPL 2026, KKR are without key players due to injuries and unavailability. It was well-reflected in their defeat against MI, where the opposition side chased down a target of 221 with ease. The pacers were weak, and Cameron Green didn’t bowl.
Meanwhile, Narine and Chakaravarthy were equally poor. But the pair do have a good record at the Eden Gardens. In T20 cricket, no other bowler has more wickets at this venue than Narine, and Varun is fourth on the list.
In his pre-match press conference, SRH head coach Daniel Vettori said, “In terms of KKR’s spin bowlers, I think there’s an immense amount of respect around those two and what they’ve done for the franchise, what they’ve done for their country, so in no way will we be taking them lightly, even if they didn’t have their best day in the last game.”
