While commentating during a very crucial RCB Vs SRH game in IPL 2023, the former England batsman Kevin Pietersen came up with a big remark about the SRH wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen. Pietersen was on air while Klaasen was batting yesterday and he was so impressed with Klaasen’s batting against spin that he said that there is no player in the world at the moment who plays spin as well as Klaasen.
“This is going to be a big call, but I am going to make it. I would say there is nobody in the world who plays spin as well as this guy,” said Pietersen on air as Klaasen hit a six off the bowling of the RCB left arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed over deep midwicket.
Pietersen was the part of the commentary panel for SA20 tournament as well, which took place just before the IPL and even during that tournament, he had showered praise over Klaasen’s ability to negotiate against spinners with extreme ease.
Ability of Heinrich Klaasen to pick the length early against spin makes him special: Pietersen
According to Pietersen, the reason why Klaasen scores boundaries against spin so easily is because he hangs back in his crease and doesn’t look to come forward. And he is able to do that because he picks the length of the spinners very early.
Pietersen reckons since Heinrich Klaasen plays from deep inside his crease, his backfoot shots then enable the spinners to push the length a little up and as they get close to Klaasen, Klaasen then hits them straight down the ground.
In the view of Pietersen, he has watched Klaasen closely over the last few months and he has come to the conclusion that no player in the world has as smooth a gameplan against spin as Klaasen has. Heinrich Klaasen scored his first IPL hundred yesterday against RCB off just 48 balls, but SRH still ended up losing the game by 8 wickets.
