Heinrich Klaasen dismisses concerns over SRH's overreliance on Travis-Abhishek duo
What's the story
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaasen has rejected concerns about the team relying too much on openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma.
His statement follows SRH's recent loss to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2025 season.
The duo, popularly known as 'Travishek' by fans, played a key role in SRH's run to the IPL 2024 final.
"Not at all," stated Klaasen, speaking about the duo in the post-match press conference.
Here's more.
Performance analysis
Travishek's performance and SRH's batting depth
Before facing LSG, the duo had amassed 736 runs in 16 innings.
However, in the recent match, they managed only 15 runs for the first wicket before Abhishek fell in the third over.
Despite Head's brilliant score of 47 off just 28 balls, SRH could only post a total of 190/9 in their allotted overs.
LSG comfortably chased down the target.
Batting depth
Klaasen emphasizes SRH's batting strength beyond openers
As mentioned, in the post-match press conference, Klaasen emphasized that SRH's batting order is strong till the eighth batter.
"We don't need Travis and Abhishek to come off all the time," he said.
He added that while the duo pressures bowlers early, the team has enough talent to score big without them.
"If we look at our batting lineup, we are destructive till batter No.8," he further added.
Future outlook
Klaasen reflects on the team's performance and upcoming matches
Looking back on SRH's performance, Klaasen admitted they fell short on a good batting track.
He estimated a score of 210-220 was par for the pitch they played on.
Looking ahead, SRH are set to face Delhi Capitals in their next match, scheduled for March 30 at Vizag.
The likes of Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, and Klaasen will be instrumental in getting SRH back to winning ways.
Match recap
LSG beat SRH for first win of IPL 2025
As mentioned, LSG beat SRH in match seven of the 2025 IPL season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Blistering knocks from Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh helped the Super Giants chase down 191.
Earlier, Shardul Thakur's historic 4/34 restricted the Orange Army to a sub-200 total (190/9).
With this, LSG have opened their account in the ongoing IPL season.