South African cricket team’s middle-order batter Heinrich Klaasen has been the talking point. Heinrich Klaasen smashed a belligerent knock of 174 runs in 83 balls in the 4th ODI against Australia. Klaasen struck 13 fours and 13 sixes and seemed unstoppable against the mighty Aussies.
South Africa’s management would be pumped up after the Proteas won the ODI series by 3-2 as earlier they were 0-2 down in the series. We should not forget that South Africa were almost on the brink of missing the ODI WC 2023 but somehow the side qualified for the ODI WC 2023.
Heinrich Klaasen is a very effective cricketer- Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra was seen speaking on his You Tube channel. Aakash Chopra stated that no batter plays attacking cricket better than Heinrich Klaasen. Aakash Chopra pointed out that Heinrich Klaasen uses the depth of the crease quite well to smash big hits into the stands. Aakash Chopra feels that Heinrich Klassen is slightly underrated.
“Heinrich Klaasen is not a top-order batter. But, among overseas batters, no one plays attacking cricket better than him. The specialty of this batter is that he picks length very quickly and looks to attacks the ball. He uses the depth of the crease really well to get power into his big hits,” said Aakash Chopra.
“Whoever bats in the middle overs, there will be five fielders in the circle at that point. One gap will always be there. Heinrich Klaasen is slightly underrated, I don’t know why. I rated him very highly. For South Africa to do well, Klaasen will have to do well because lower middle-order batters can make game-changing contributions. I have lot of hopes from him as he is a very effective cricketer,” he added.
South Africa a team to beat
We should not forget that the Proteas have got a lethal spin attack in the form of the left arm off-spinner Keshav Maharaj & the left arm chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi. The duo can be a force to reckon with in the middle overs phase and at the same time Aiden Markram can also roll his arm over if needed.
The swashbuckling left handed batter Quinton de Kock would be keen to make a mark in his final ODI WC as the batter has made it clear that he would play in franchise cricket and has opted out of ODIs that too in the age of 30.