Tristan Stubbs was also not included in the playing XI in South Africa’s tournament opener
Heinrich Klaasen has scores of 86, 97, 81 and 87 in his last four ODI innings • Associated Press
There was no Heinrich Klaasen or Tristan Stubbs in South Africa’s team sheet for the Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan in Karachi on Friday afternoon, and CSA confirmed that Klaasen had been ruled out “as a precautionary measure due to a left elbow soft tissue injury”. Stubbs might not have been a contender for the first-choice XI anyway.
South Africa, who won the toss and asked Afghanistan to field first, still had a formidable-looking batting line-up, with Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi up top, and Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram and David Miller in the middle, and the allrounders Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen at seven and eight.
But Klaasen is one of their big players, and the form player in ODIs. In the four ODIs he had played in the past few months, all against Pakistan – at home late last year and then the one in the tri-series preceding the Champions Trophy – his scores were 86 in 97 balls, 97 in 74 balls, 81 in 43 balls and, in the latest game, 87 in 56 balls.
Overall, he averages 44.12 from 54 ODI innings – in which he has scored 2074 runs – and strikes at 117.44. Crucially, keeping the venues of the Champions Trophy in mind, Klaasen has a strike rate of 125.31 against spinners in ODIs since the start of 2020, all while averaging 57 runs-per-dismissal against that kind of bowling.
Among 97 batters to have faced 500-plus balls of spin in this period, Klaasen’s strike rate is the highest and comfortably better than the next best – Rohit Sharma’s 111.59. In this game, against Afghanistan, South Africa will likely face at least 20 overs of spin, with Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad among the frontline bowlers, and Mohammad Nabi in the mix too.
South Africa’s next Champions Trophy game is against Australia on February 25 in Rawalpindi.
