The South African wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen is the man who had led the Proteas team in levelling the three-match T20 series 1-1.
JP Duminy’s squad thrashed confident Indian team by six wickets at the SuperSport Park, Centurion on Wednesday.
While talking to the reporters at the post-match conference, Heinrich Klaasen said that he fancies facing Yuzvendra Chahal.
“I fancy him [Chahal] quite a lot. When I was in amateur cricket, there were a couple of quality leggies at that time. I faced Shaun von Berg at the Titans as well. We always made a joke that I need to finish the other legspinner’s career so he can go up, sometimes it works. Tonight it worked perfectly. I just tried to cash in as much as possible,” Klaasen said.
Heinrich Klaasen also explained the reason why he had chosen Chahal’s over to score big runs.
“It wasn’t planned. But the way the seamers bowled, the cutters, they’ve got very, very good skills as I have said before. I just fancied my chances more against the leggie, had more options against him, so when I got the first two boundaries, I thought this is the over [13th over] I got to target. Maybe if I can get 20-odd in this over,” Klaasen added.
It is not the first time when Indian spinners have felt helpless against Klaasen. He had done the same in Pink ODI that Proteas team had won by five wickets.
“At the start, yes. I think credit must go to the umpires for keeping us out on the field. At some stage, it actually drizzled quite hard. The first five or six overs, we actually tried to keep up with Duckworth-Lewis. Luckily on the fifth or the sixth over, the drizzle stopped. I said to (JP) Duminy, we can now actually stay one boundary under the DL[S] target, and it worked out,” he said.
“It’s small target. I think the way we actually batted tonight, it’s a good way to chase a total. Keep up with the rate, keep up with Duckworth-Lewis. That just gave us small targets. When to go, when not to go. Maybe something to think about going forward,” Heinrich Klaasen further added.