Heinrich Klaasen: News

"Poor man's Dhoni"—that's what Shukri Conrad, the coach at National Cricket Academy in South Africa, said about Heinrich Klaasen. A wicketkeeper-batsman by trade, Klaasen is a calm presence in the crease. He doesn't wait for the game to come to him but makes his presence felt within no time. He chose the hard way to the national team. Instead of playing age-group cricket, he chose to go with domestic cricket. Klaasen made his first-class debut in 2012 for the Northerns. His incredible average in the first three seasons paved the way into franchise cricket. Playing for Titans, his matchwinning abilities earned him his first national call-up. He was named in the squad against New Zealand as a reserve wicketkeeper in 2017, but he couldn't play even one match. Klaasen finally made his international debut in a limited-over series against India in 2018. Klaasen won his first man of the match award in both ODIs and T20Is in this series. His performance in the led limited-overs team led to him being named in the Test team against India in 2019. In 2021, Klaasen was picked to lead South Africa in two T20I series.