Klaasen revels in replicating role model AB de Villiers

South African star Heinrich Klaasen revealed how maturing in his game has aided his improvement as a batter after a record stand with David Miller as South Africa beat Australia.

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.

In an interview, 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.”

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.”

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.”

A knock to remember for the ages…

Take a bow, Heinrich Klaasen 🙌#SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/DMfLvAruF5

— ICC (@ICC) September 15, 2023

Record stand

South Africa recorded their seventh total of over 400 in ODIs powered by a mind-blowing onslaught from Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller.

Australia were at the receiving end of another special South Africa batting innings as the hosts put on 416/5 in fifty overs in the fourth ODI in Centurion. This is South Africa’s seventh total of over 400 in ODIs, the most by any team.

South Africa made 268 runs in the last 20 overs and 173 in the last 10 as Klaasen plundered 174 off just 83 balls, recording his hundred off 57 deliveries. He was ably supported by Miller’s 45-ball 82.

The duo put on a record double-century stand off just 85 balls, finishing on 222 off 92 balls, the pair separated only off the final ball when Klaasen holed out off Marcus Stoinis.  No other double-century stand in the history of ODIs has come at a better run rate than the 14.47 between Miller and Klaasen.

Klaasen’s knock makes this the eighth-highest score by a South African in men’s ODIs. The 57-ball hundred is also the second-fastest in ODIs against Australia after the 52 balls taken by Virat Kohli for his ton in Jaipur in 2013.

South Africa were 2-1 behind in the ODI series heading into this game, but the batting performance here underlines their strength as a batting unit with the 2023 World Cup just over two weeks away.