'He is walking on water at the moment' - Temba Bavuma lavishes praise on Heinrich Klaasen ahead of South Africa's World Cup opener

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma was full of praise for fellow teammate Heinrich Klaasen ahead of their opening match in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 against Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on October 7.

Bavuma reckoned that Klaasen is walking on water while describing his recent performance with the bat. The 33-year-old stated that the team has so much confidence in the wicketkeeper-batter's mastery.

"Klaassen is walking on water at the moment with the way he's been batting. He is obviously a big player, a big player for us. He has been part of our group for a number of years and he's truly shown why there is been so much faith and backing in his ability," Bavuma said in the pre-match press conference.

The South Africa opener further highlighted the significance of the top-order's contributions so that middle-order batters like Klaasen can acquire the freedom to express themselves.

"Obviously he comes in and he marshals that middle order of our batting and I guess his success, not to take credit away from it, but his success is probably largely due to the platform that it gets from the guys who come in just be at the top of the order whether it be Quinton whether it be myself whether it be Rassie at the top three so I think it's important that those guys do their jobs so guys like Klaassen even a guy like David [Miller], Aiden [Markram] can go out and do what we expect and want them to do," he added.

Klaasen has been in incredible form in white-ball cricket this year, having amassed 527 runs in just 11 ODIs at an excellent average of 58.55 and a strike rate over 150. He has two centuries and a fifty to his name, with the best score of 174 runs, which he scored against Australia in the recent series at home.

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