South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma lavished praise on Heinrich Klassen for his match-winning knock against India in the second T20I of the five-match series in Cuttack on Sunday.
Chasing 149 for the win, Klassen took the game away from India with a 46-ball 81 as South Africa romped home with four wickets to spare to go 2-0 up at Barabati Stadium. “It was a tricky chase, Bhuvi bowled well, he made the ball talk upfront. It could have been clinical towards the end, but we will take that. We really needed someone to take it deep. That’s the role I play in the game, to close it off. There’s a learning I can take from this game, will try better in the next game. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy chase, but we were confident,” said Bavuma in a post-match presentation.
“We knew we had to execute our plans, and we had to be clinical. We can use him (Miller) at 5 or 6. Klaasen is someone who can do the damage in a couple of balls. He (Klaasen) adds a lot of value to our batting. Whatever your role is, you need to execute as well as you can,” he added.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s magical figures of 4/13 in four overs were not enough to stop South Africa from taking a 2-0 lead in the series. Led by Heinrich Klaasen’s fiery fifty, the Proteas chased down the total with 10 balls to spare.
The teams will be squaring off for the third T20I on Tuesday at Vishakhapatnam.