India vs South Africa | Heinrich Klassen reveals South Africa doing lot of homework for Kuldeep Yadav
Heinrich Klassen has revealed that the South African side had to work a lot on Kuldeep Yadav's wrist spin over the last 2-3 days, which was reflected in their five-wicket ODI win in Johannesburg. Klassen also stated that the victory at Wanderers would be a big confidence booster for the hosts.
India’s wrist spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were terrifying in the first three ODIs with South African batsmen having no answers whatsoever, where they shared 21-wicket haul between themselves, which helped India take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the six-match ODI series. However, the hosts were finally able to unlock the mystery bowling in the fourth ODI on Saturday where both Chahal (1/68) and Kuldeep (2/51) went quite expensive as South Africa pulled one back to make the series 3-1.
After the game in Johannesburg, South African wicket-keeper, Klassen, stated that the team was never much worried about Chahal’s bowling but it was Kuldeep that gave them sleepless nights. However, he revealed that the hosts worked hard on picking the chinaman bowler’s variations and eventually came out on top on Saturday.
“The problem at beginning of the series was that we didn’t pick the Chinaman. The leggie was, no one really struggled to pick him but he seemed to pick up a lot of wickets. We struggled to pick the Chinaman’s variations and we did a lot of homework on him over the last 2-3 days and that seemed to work today,” said Klassen, reported Hindustan Times.
After the target was revised to a gettable 202 off 38 overs last game, India
“I was very surprised. David (Miller) and I thought they would have kept them at the back-end for two overs each. But I think how this series went that led them to bowl their spinners for the remaining of the overs, but I was very surprised about it,” he said.
Klassen got the chance in the playing XI after Quinton de Kock had suffered a wrist injury in the second ODI and he made the most of the opportunity. He played a 47-run knock in just 27 deliveries while attacking the line of the spinners. After South Africa lost AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, Klassen along with David Miller added a timely 72 runs
“Between myself and David, we can let that run-rate go up till about probably 12-13, especially at the Wanderers where the ball tends to fly quite a bit. It was definitely a momentum changer for us, getting that free hit on David’s wicket. He’s a cool, calm and experienced cricketer and he just said, ‘Anything in our slot we need to back and whatever we do we need to do fully’.
“And then at the end of the over after a couple of boundaries, the value of David being there and myself being there at the start of the next over – it’s bigger than just having a slog at a couple of balls. So we were very calculated in our approach there. Maybe it didn’t look like it! But it was all calculated and planned out, what we wanted to do,” added Klassen.
After the Test series win, de Villiers was ruled out from the ODI series due to a finger injury and he could only return for the fourth game, by which the damage was beyond repair. He scored 26 runs off 18 balls on Saturday, which included two maximums and one boundary before giving away his wicket to Hardik Pandya.
Klassen opined that the presence of the experienced player changed the environment and the win at Wanderers also boosted team’s morale which they would want to carry in the next ODI on February 13 in Port Elizabeth.
“We didn’t have the confidence but just to get the first win has lifted the spirits in the change room and the belief in the change room. It is nice to have AB back again, the environment changed when he is back. He is a huge influence in the change room but to get to the first win on a special occasion like the Pink ODI means a lot to us and proud to keep the record clean.”
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