South African captain Temba Bavuma was all praise for Heinrich Klaasen after the right-hander played a match-winning knock against India in the second T20I at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Sunday. Klaasen, who got his chance in place of injured Quinton de Kock, scored a fine knock of 81 runs off just 46 balls to help his team chase down 149 runs with four wickets to spare.
Klaasen joined forces with skipper Temba Bavuma when the Proteas were in the quagmire at 29-3 after 5.3 overs. Klaasen took his time in the early stage of his innings but he was able to change gears against the Indian spinners.
The right-hander made great use of the depth of the crease to take the attack against Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel. Klaasen scored seven fours and five sixes and played with aplomb on a pitch on which the rest of the batters struggled to get going.
Bavuma admitted that it was always going to be a tricky chase. South Africa did struggle to get going in the first 10 overs but Klaasen was able to take control in the second half of the innings. The SA skipper added they wanted to execute their skills and wanted to come up with a clinical performance.
Temba Bavuma said in the post-match presentation, “It was a tricky chase, Bhuvi bowled well, he made the ball talk upfront. It could have been clinical towards the end, but we will take that. We really needed someone to take it deep. That’s the role I play in the game, to close it off. There’s a learning I can take from this game, will try better in the next game. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy chase, but we were confident. We knew we had to execute our plans, and we had to be clinical. We can use him (Miller) at 5 or 6. Klaasen is someone who can do the damage in a couple of balls. He (Klaasen) adds a lot of value to our batting. Whatever your role is, you need to execute as well as you can.”
South Africa has ticked the right boxes in the first two T20Is and thus they have taken a 2-0 lead in the series. The Proteas will look to continue the good show against the home team. In fact, South Africa has won their last seven International matches against India and they have come up with collective efforts.
On the other hand, India will need to pull up their socks in the next match to stay afloat in the series. The third T20I between India and South Africa will be played on Tuesday.
