HEINRICH KLAASEN: I LEARNT HOW TO PLAY SPIN AT HOME

South African batters have traditionally been criticised for their failure to counter high-quality spin on the subcontinent, but Heinrich Klaasen is bucking that trend in this season’s Indian Premier League. 

It has long been known locally that Klaasen is a high-quality player of spin, supported by the fact he was a prized pick for Durban’s Super Giants at the Betway SA20 auction due to the spin-friendly surface at Kingsmead. 

He certainly backed up his reputation with numbers as Klaasen stroked 363 runs at an average of 60.5 and an amazing strike-rate of 164.25 in the Betway SA20. 

But the 31-year-old has now elevated his game to even greater heights by taking on the world’s best spinners at the Indian Premier League. In just eight matches for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, he has amassed 215 runs at an average of 43, but even more impressive is the fact that it has come at a strike-rate of 185.34. 

This is the highest for any batter that has scored more than 200 runs in the competition. 

These numbers are certainly remarkable as Klaasen regularly walks to the crease when the Powerplay fielding restrictions have been completed, the ball has got softer, and the spin gurus such as Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan and others are operating on surfaces that traditionally assist the slower bowlers. 

Klaasen credits his execution due to having done the hard yards back home in South Africa, where he learnt the subtleties of finding a way to play spin. 

“I’ve been fortunate enough to grow up through our provincial ranks back home in South Africa that I got to face a lot of quality spinners, and we always challenge each other in the nets,” Klaasen said. 

“I had to improvise a little bit, and learn how to play their best deliveries, and I think that’s why I have been fortunate enough to play spin the way I can play spin today. It’s all due to playing class spin bowling back home.”

It also helps that Klaasen’s attitude towards the challenge of coming to the crease during the middle to closing overs is a positive one. 

“I think that’s the exciting part of where I am batting. Every day is a new situation. The conditions obviously change, and the match situation gets harder and harder sometimes,” he said.

“It is an interesting one, but luckily I have some experience there so I have some form of a template to work from. But normally you have to be aggressive from the start and take some form of risk upfront to make sure you get off to a good start to get into the flow of the innings.”