South African batter Heinrich Klaasen is in prime form and he continued his supreme form as he scored a masterclass knock of 109 off just 67 balls against defending champions England at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday.
Klaasen showed his class as he batted at the top of his game and took the England bowlers to the cleaners. The right-hander smashed a dozen fours and four sixes in his blistering knock.
Klaasen added 151 runs with Marco Jansen, who scored a whirlwind knock of 75 runs for the sixth wicket. Thus, the duo played a key role in helping South Africa post a gargantuan score of 399 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Jos Buttler. The right-hander tipped this knock as his best ever in his ODI career.
Heinrich Klaasen said in the post-match presentation, “One of my best (knocks) ever, I was hitting the ball nicely, this knock will go down as one of my better ones. It was proper heat, saps all the energy out of you. The heat out there was extreme. They (England) were physically under the pump but a couple of wickets got them back in.”
Klaasen was awarded the Player of the Match but he feels Klaasen should have been given the award as he scored 75 runs and also bagged two top-order wickets.
Klaasen added, “Next level (Jansen’s knock). This award needs to go to him (Jansen). He kept me going and pumped me up saying you are not leaving the ground without a 100. He has been phenomenal, has been batting so well. The runs he scored were so vital for us. That loss (against Netherlands) was a tough one, but we know we are playing good cricket. One loss doesn’t make us a bad team. Had some chats and our boys bounced back with the training sessions. It was a fantastic performance today.”
It was a complete performance from South Africa as they registered a massive win of 229 runs, which also boosted their Net Run Rate. The Proteas also came up with a collective bowling performance.
South Africa will next take on Bangladesh at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Tuesday.
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