Sunrisers Hyderabad lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets in their IPL opener and were then humbled by 5 wickets by Lucknow Super Giants in their last game

Dashing former Proteas batter Henrich Klaasen feels it is still early days in the tournament for the Sunrisers Hyderabad and is confident that the 2016 IPL champions will fire in all departments going forward after two defeats in their first three games.

SRH lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets in their opener and then were humbled by 5 wickets by Lucknow Super Giants in their last game. Their only win -- 65-run victory -- came against Kolkata Knight Riders.

“Our batting has been good so far, but we missed out about 40 runs in 3 games. We need to bat better. The two games that we struggled, we didn't execute with the bat. The bowlers, especially the pacers have been fantastic. We need to get to 220-230 mark to give our bowlers chance of defending,” Klaasen said.

“Our fielding has been poor and that's what is affecting us. I will give us 6 out of 10 so far, we played some brilliant cricket in phases, but lost out in the crucial phases of the game. Bowlers are hanging on as per plan, rest of the batting is doing well. I will give 80 per cent but our fielding needs to improve, we need to hold onto our catches. If you need to go 8-9 in rating, you need to build some momentum, you need to put all three compartments together,” he added.

Klaasen, who has retired from all forms of international cricket last year and is now only plying his trade in franchise, struck consecutive fifties for SRH in their last two games, and is happy with his form. “Unfortunately we lost two games but on a personal note, it was a good start for me especially since I am not playing too much cricket these days. I would like to continue the form,” said Klaasen.

He is also enjoying his role and responsibilities at the No. 4 position. “It’s a role (No. 4) that I had played throughout my whole career. In this role, you need to adapt to the situation, my role in the team is to keep going even if (Ishan) Kishan, Abhishek (Sharma) and Travis Head are going. My role is in phases, every game is going to produce a different situation and I just need to adapt to that,” he said.

SRH will next play Punjab Kings in New Chandigarh on Saturday.