India vs South Africa: Heinrich Klaasen to replace Rudi Second for Test series

Heinrich Klaasen, the South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman, has been called up for the three-match Test series versus India. The right-handed batsman is set to replace Rudi Second, who has suffered an injury while practising with the South Africa A team. The 30-year-old from Queenstown has been ruled out of the series and will be required to undergo immediate surgery.

Earlier, the Knights, for whom Second plays in the domestic circuit, expressed their delight over his selection in the national team. As far as Klaasen is concerned, he is a part of the South Africa A team, which is in India itself for a five-match unofficial one-day series. The series gets underway on August 29 and will continue until September 6 in Thiruvananthapuram.

“Klaasen is part of the one-day squad for South Africa A tour and he will now be added to the squad in Second’s place for the four-day series that will assist his preparation for the Proteas Test series,” CSA Acting Director of Cricket Corrie van Zyl was quoted as saying in Cricbuzz. The Proteas Test series is scheduled to start on October 2 with the opening match in Visakhapatnam.

Heinrich Klaasen’s numbers in brief

Klaasen made his international debut last year in February against India itself and made some sterling impact in the limited-overs format. Thus far, the Pretoria-born has plied his trade in 14 ODIs and nine T20Is in which he notched 251 and 156 runs respectively with a couple of half-centuries.

He last donned the national colours back in February 2019 in a T20I versus Pakistan and wasn’t a part of the Proteas’ World Cup squad. At the first-class level, the 28-year-old has decent numbers though. Klaasen has played 65 matches and has scored 3,946 runs at a reasonable average of 45.35.

He has 10 centuries and 16 fifties in red-ball cricket to his name and would be hoping to break into the eleven in the series in India. On the other hand, Second has greater experience than Klaasen, having played 105 games in which he scored 6,893 runs at an average of 45.05 to go with 17 tons and 33 fifties.

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