KLAASEN IS TICKLED PINK

Heinrich Klaasen (below) says he likes to play against spinners and, even though he did not enjoy his debut innings for South Africa so much, he turned his second knock into a match-winning one as he steered the Proteas to a thrilling victory in the Pink ODI at the Wanderers over the weekend.

Klaasen crafted a brilliant 43 not out off 27 balls to turn around the Proteas’ fortunes just when they were looking likely to suffer a loss that would have given India a 4-0 series win. The 26-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman played the previously deadly spin twins, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, particularly well and, with the help of David Miller (39 off 28) and Andile Phehlukwayo (23* off 5), they went for a combined 119 runs in 11.3 overs.

“Just to get that first good international knock out the way settled my nerves and it’s better than scoring a hundred to win a game for your country. I had to hit where the gaps were and if the only boundary option was over square-leg then that was my go-to shot. We knew we could let the required run-rate get to 12-an-over because the ball really flies here,” Klaasen said after his Man-of-the-Match performance.

Klaasen also paid credit to Miller and Phehlukwayo for easing the pressure on him, and to the bowlers for the phenomenal work they did in restricting India to 289/7 after they had reached 200 /2 in 34.2 overs before the first interruption for rain.

“Andile can certainly hit the ball quite far, even though he said he mistimed a couple! I just told him to keep his shape, get that front leg coming straight down the pitch. It was a valuable knock, it took all the pressure off me. He’s done it a couple of times now.

“David was also so cool and calm and those let-offs in the Chahal over were definitely the momentum-changer. After that we said anything in the slot we must back ourselves to hit,” Klaasen said.