South African batter Heinrich Klaasen has rated his unbeaten knock of 74 runs as one of the best of his career after the tourists won the first ODI by 9 runs against India in Lucknow on Thursday (October 6).
After Quinton de Kock (48) gave a flying start to South Africa, Klaasen and David Miller (75*) took charge of the side and went on to put on an unbeaten 139-run stand for the fifth wicket to help the tourists post 249/4 in 40 overs in the rain-hit first ODI match in Lucknow.
Team India came close to victory thanks to Sanju Samson’s stunning knock of an unbeaten 86*, but they fell short by nine runs to trail 0-1 in the three-match ODI series against South Africa.
After being adjudged Player of the Match, Heinrich Klaasen said at the post-match press conference: “To score runs in these conditions and play such an innings, which I think was one of my better innings I have ever played in my life. I am very pleased. It’s been a good batting performance from the squad.”
He further said that South Africa has been working on how to counter the spin attack and swing over the years, and their hard work paid off well in the first ODI in Lucknow, where the pitch was tough to bat on.
Klaasen further explained, “The ball spun a lot. We have been working hard for the last couple of years to play better in these conditions. Our game plan was to sweep both ways and it worked tonight. Today we picked the right game plan. It spun quite a bit so we had to get the danger ball out of play, find a way to rotate the strike. It wasn’t easy for both sides upfront. We bowled extremely well.
I think Quinny (Quinton de Kock) played an exceptional inning as well. He was very vital to get us to a good position when Miller and I came in. Our middle order is experienced enough and we knew we have to do the hard work, find a way to play in these conditions. We keep on reminding ourselves of our blueprint and the way we need to play in these conditions.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing ODI series is extremely crucial for South Africa, who are languishing at the 11th position in the ICC World Cup Super League, to gain some points and qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup.
However, Klaasen stressed that the Proteas team is currently not thinking about the World Cup 2023 in India, as their present focus is on the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
The Proteas batter continued, “To qualify for next year’s World Cup is going to be really hard but we are definitely going to try. Our goal at this moment is the T20 World Cup coming up in couple of days time. We are not too worried about other things we can’t control at this moment. Every time we get on to the field wearing the South African jersey, we want to win the game. We are just taking step by step, game by game at this moment.”
Klaasen signed off by saying on Dwaine Pretorius ruling out of the India series and T20 World Cup 2022, “It’s a big loss. This morning we only found out the severity of the injury. We thought it was just a little thumb injury. It’s emotional, we have been through a lot. I am gutted for the guy. It’s a massive loss for us.”
(With PTI Inputs)
