“I fancy Chahal quite a lot,” Klaasen said after the match. “When I was in amateur cricket, there were a couple of quality leggies in that time when I started my career. I faced Shaun von Berg at the Titans a lot as well. We always made a joke that I need to finish the other legspinner’s career so he can go up, sometimes it works. Tonight it worked perfectly. I just tried to cash in as much as possible.
“It wasn’t planned. But the way the seamers bowled, the cutters, they’ve got very, very good skills as I have said before, I just fancied my chances more against the leggie, had more options against him, so when I got the first two boundaries, I thought this is the over 13th over I got to target. Maybe if I can get 20-odd in this over,” he added.
The ‘keeper-batsman also heaped praise on JP Duminy, the captain, for guiding him through the initial phase. The veteran batsman, who was going through a bad patch, evidenced by the fact that he had compiled just 102 runs in his previous six internationals, amassed a crucial hand of 64 not out. Duminy was the key factor to my whole innings. Second over or the first over I faced, he told me this over needs to go for 10. He told me to just play my normal game and take the bowlers on. Luckily today it worked out,” he felt.
