Heinrich Klaasen revels in replicating AB de Villiers’ genius
The dynamic South African star revealed how maturing in his game has aided his improvement as a batter.
Klaasen played a scintillating knock to help South Africa equal the ODI series against Australia 2-2. He scored 174 from merely 83 balls to power his side to a total of 416/5. His explosive knock was studded with 13 fours and as many sixes. Australia fell short of their target by a big 164-run margin.
Video Cricket World Cup 15 Aug 23 04:21 400 Club: AB de Villiers and South Africa star at the SCG | ICC Men’s CWC
In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Klaasen discussed how his role model, AB de Villiers’s game had an influence on him.
“You look up to some role models and you want to be like them – like AB de Villiers. You want to play all the shots but the genius behind guys like AB was knowing when to play them,” Klaasen said. “For me, I explored a lot with it and it didn’t work. It was about maturing into my game and knowing my options are.”
A knock to remember for the ages…
Take a bow, Heinrich Klaasen 🙌#SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/DMfLvAruF5
— ICC (@ICC) September 15, 2023
Klaasen described the mindset adjustment that transformed his game.
“What’s changed in my career is that I am playing every ball as it is and for me to stay in that mindset,” Klaasen said. “I don’t recap what I have done the previous ball or think of what I might do the next ball.
“Tim David asked me how many sixes I hit and I said I didn’t know. It shows my mindset was good and I was only focusing on what’s coming in that moment. I have to go back and look at it. It was awesome out there and you don’t often get that feeling – maybe once or twice in your career.”
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He discussed how this change was brought about after being dropped in 2021. He went back to his domestic team and discussed the tweaks needed in his game.
“The coaches said to me, ‘You are using too many options. Let’s limit yourself’. I am batting within myself at the start to make sure I get a good platform, and then I can just react to every ball: stand still, watch the ball and wherever I need to hit it.
“My body will take over and just react. It took me a couple of months to get back to my best and a lot of hard work.”
The decider of the five-match ODI series will be played on Sunday, 17 September, at the Wanderers Stadium.
