IPL: Heinrich Klaasen becomes first middle-order batter with this feat
What's the story
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen has achieved a historic milestone in the ongoing IPL 2026 season. He has become the first player ever to score over 600 runs in a T20 series or tournament while batting at No. 4 or lower. The cricketer reached this landmark during SRH's match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday (May 22).
New benchmark
Klaasen surpasses Pant's tally
Klaasen, who was retained by SRH for ₹23 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, needed 45 runs against RCB to cross the 600-run mark in IPL 2026. Before Klaasen, Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant held the record for most runs scored in a T20 series or tournament by a No.4 or lower batter with his tally of 579 runs in IPL 2018 for Delhi Capitals.
Season stats
Sixth 50 of the season for Klaasen
Klaasen has been a key player for SRH this season, scoring 606 runs in IPL 2026 so far at 54.72. He has hit six half-centuries in the tournament. Notably, Klaasen's strike rate is 159.68. In the match against RCB on Friday, he scored an explosive 51 off just 24 balls with two fours and five sixes. His innings helped build a massive partnership of 113 runs off just 48 balls for the third wicket with Ishan Kishan before being dismissed by Krunal Pandya in the 17th over. His efforts meant SRH finished at 255/4 and later won by 55 runs.
Twitter Post
Historic feat for Klaasen!
Doing things that have literally never been done before! 🫡🔥
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 22, 2026
What a terrifyingly consistent season for Heinrich Klaasen 🧡#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #SRHvRCB | @Heini22 | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/Hg00C8qTss
Feat
5th SRH batter with this milestone
With his 31st run of the contest, Klaasen completed the mark of 2,000 for SRH in IPL. He now owns 2,020 runs from 56 matches at 45.90. He clocked his 13th fifty (100s: 2). As per ESPNcricinfo, he became the 5th batter for SRH to get past 2,000 runs after David Warner (4,014), Shikhar Dhawan (2,518), Abhishek Sharma (2,316) and Kane Williamson (2,101).