It was proper carnage from South Africa‘s Heinrich Klaasen against England on Saturday when they faced off at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for their World Cup 2023 encounter.
Heinrich Klaasen continued his marauder form in white-ball cricket in 2023 and absolutely obliterated the English bowling attack, which was under the pump and didn’t have any answers to Klaasen’s ball-smacking. Joining in the fun with Klaasen was number 7 batter Marco Jansen, who batted like a proper finisher.
Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen shared a stunning stand of 151 runs in only 77 balls, which came after South Africa were in a bit of a pickle at 243/5 in the 37th over. Klaasen scored 109 runs in 67 balls with the help of 12 fours and 4 sixes and Jansen made 75* runs in 42 balls, walloping 3 runs and 6 sixes.
Klaasen’s exhilarating hitting against Adil Rashid, and against spinners throughout the year prompted former England captain and stylish batsman Kevin Pietersen to hail him as the best player of spin in white-ball cricket currently. Even better than Virat Kohli!
Kevin Pietersen tweeted: “Please tell me who’s a better batter than Klaasen against spin, in white ball cricket? Can’t think of any even close…?”
Heinrich Klaasen is in a dream run in white-ball cricket in 2023 and has been thumping spinners for fun; no boundary is short for him; no spinner can have an upper hand on him in this touch. So maybe Kevin Pietersen’s assessment of Klassen being the best spin basher currently in limited-overs cricket, ranking him even above Virat Kohli, who has some issues with the ball turning away from him, is fair.
South Africa posted a giant total of 399/7.
Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
England (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), David Willey, Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Reece Topley
