SA vs IND: Heinrich Klaasen was surprised by Virat Kohli's decision

After three humiliating losses against India in the six-match one-day series, the South African team finally got some respite in the ‘Pink ODI’. Their resplendent in pink to raise money for a greater cause, ensured they maintained their unbeaten record on this beautiful day. The crackerjack of the encounter the wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen along with the swashbuckler David Miller helped Proteas to change the scoreline from 3-0 to 3-1.

After losing the toss, South African bowlers were expected to put their team to a recovery and give them a great start. Bowlers started really well as the batsmen were finding it difficult to put the best foot forward. In lieu of that, India lost their vice-captain for a mere score of 5. Later, baking on the ton and dazzling knock by the skipper Virat Kohli helped India to post a respectable total.

In reply, South Africa got off to a decent start as the openers were looking rock-solid. Just before the players were asked to leave the field eyeing the ‘thunderstorm’, Jasprit Bumrah bowled a beautiful in-swing to send their skipper back to the hut. Later the rain reduced the play to 28 overs which eventually helped South Africa to play their shots and dominate the game.

David Miller and Klaasen were surprised

India did not bowl Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah at the death in the fourth one-day International and instead opted for the spin-duo, a move that backfired and South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen said he was surprised by the decision.

The star batsman Heinrich Klaasen said as quoted by News 18, “I was very surprised. David and I thought they would have kept them at back 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.”

When asked about whether the team solved the spin riddle, he said, “I wouldn’t say. The problem at beginning of series was that we didn’t pick the Chinaman. That obviously makes the difference not to be able to score against him. No one really struggled to pick Chahal but he seemed to pick up a lot of the wickets. We struggled to pick up the chinaman’s variations. But we did a lot of homework on him over the last 2-3 days and that seemed to work today.”