The IPL 2025 season has seen a very turnover start for its Sunrisers Hyderabad. From the first eight matches, they’ve secured only two wins, which results in a poor 9th place in the rankings. However, there might still be some light shining through the clouds; this time, they look toward their star wicketkeeper and batter Heinrich Klaasen. This South African cricketer, who has just been bought back into the team for a whopping Rs 23 crore from the mega auctions, at 33 years of age, believes differently about how far the team can go, from that of preseason early pessimism, from making the playoffs.
Klaasen is clear that he and those like him understand what they have to do to finish in the top four and progress to the next rounds. He discussed this with others in a recent video that Star Sports shared on X, drawing attention to what the team’s mindset was regarding that. Klaasen explained that there is a certain brand of play they want to hold on to, even if it’s ups and downs at times. “We want a certain brand, and we are sticking to that brand of cricket,” he stated. Klaasen explained that they know they must win a few more matches and are finding ways on how to do it consistently.
🗣 “We know how many games we need to win to get into the playoffs!”
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 25, 2025
That’s Hyderabad’s batting beast #HeinrichKlaasen for you. 🏏💥
Now, #SRH face #CSK in a high-stakes clash – one shot for both teams to keep their season hopes alive. 🔥#IPLonJioStar 👉 #CSKvSRH | 25th APR,… pic.twitter.com/Khr9U5Xobi
Coming up next is a major encounter in the SRH calendar against the Chennai Super Kings, five-time IPL winners. The match is set to take place on Friday, April 25, at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, making it very significant to Hyderabad. If they lose against CSK, the case for their playoff qualifications would almost be over. That is because even if they get to 14 points, that might not suffice this year to make it into the top four.
MS Dhoni will be making his 400th appearance in T20 matches at this encounter. Joining the elite group of Indian cricketers with at least 400 T20 matches played, he has now joined Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Dhoni has made his runs tally reach 7,566 off 350 innings in his 399 T20 matches since he started his T20 career for India against South Africa back in December 2006. And of these 399 matches, 266 have come when he has played for CSK since they bought him in the mega auction of 2008. He is the most capped player in IPL history and he returned to captain CSK on April 10, 2025.
So it is not just another game for both teams-it is important for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who fight for a place in the playoffs; this makes it a landmark occasion for Dhoni as he achieves a significant milestone in T20 cricket. Let us see how this matchup goes and whether SRH can turn the season around.
