Photo Credit: SA20 League
Durban’s Super Giants will be hoping Heinrich Klaasen carries his red-hot T20 form into the Betway SA20 Season 2.
After a quiet start to the inaugural Betway SA20 Season 1, Klaasen found form towards the latter stages of the tournament and almost single-handedly drove the Super Giants to within a whisker of reaching the semi-finals.
The Super Giants were ultimately pipped to the playoffs on net run-rate, but Klaasen had lit up the tournament with a superb 104 not out off 44 balls against runners-up Pretoria Capitals at his beloved Centurion. He ultimately finished as the fourth-highest run-scorer with 363 runs at an average of 60.50 and a strike rate of 164.25.
From thereon, the run-spree continued all around the world with Klaasen striking a further 104 off 51 balls for Sunrisers Hyderabad against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the first hundred in Major League Cricket (MLC) history when he blasted 10 off 44 balls against MI New York for the Seattle Orcas.
Despite playing in The Hundred also for the first time, the ginger-haired right-handed took England by storm with 189 runs at an average of 31.50 and a strike-rate of 178.30.
These scintillating performances have earned high praise from global legends with India’s Sachin Tendulkar and West Indian Brian Lara all admiring Klaasen. South Africa’s Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers have also rated Klaasen as “the best T20 batter in the world” at the moment.
Klaasen, though, remains humble and philosophical in his approach, especially as he has previously experienced lean times with the bat and knows that the game of cricket can change within an instant.
The 32-year-old has, however, learnt valuable lessons about his game over the past nine months and believes that if he sticks to these principles, he should be in a good position to maintain his form.
“I have learnt to stay just nice and calm out in the middle. Not to manufacture too many things. I’ve been hitting the ball nicely. Just stay calm and trust my processes,” Klaasen said on Monday.
“I also know my ability to catch up quickly if I don’t get off to a good start. At this moment I am feeling quite relaxed and calm in my gameplans.”
Klaasen is currently playing for the Proteas Men’s team in an ongoing ODI series against Australia before returning to India next month for the ICC World Cup.
Name of Author: SA20 League
SA20, officially known as the Betway SA20 for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa organized by Cricket South Africa (CSA). First held in the 2023 season, the league features six city-based teams. Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the first two editions of the tournament.
