Heinrich Klaasen misses Afghanistan game as precaution over left elbow injury sustained during training as confirmed by CSA.
Heinrich Klaasen or Tristan Stubbs are not in South Africa’s team sheet for the Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan in Karachi on Friday afternoon.
Klaasen’s exclusion “as a precautionary measure due to a left elbow soft tissue injury” was verified by CSA. In any case, Stubbs might not have been a candidate for the starting lineup.
With Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi at the top, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, and David Miller in the middle, and all-rounders Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen at seven and eight, South Africa, who had won the toss and asked Afghanistan to field first, still had a strong-looking batting lineup.
However, Klaasen is a key member of their team and their best performer in ODIs. He has scored 86 in 97 balls, 97 in 74 balls, 81 in 43 balls, and 87 in 56 balls in the four One-Day Internationals (ODIs) he has played in the last few months, all against Pakistan, first at home late last year and then in the tri-series before the Champions Trophy.
In total, he has scored 2074 runs in 54 ODI innings, averaging 44.12 and striking at 117.44. Importantly, considering the Champions Trophy sites, Klaasen has averaged 57 runs per dismissal against spinners in ODIs since the beginning of 2020, with a strike rate of 125.31 against them.
Klaasen’s strike rate is the highest among the 97 batters who have faced 500 or more balls of spin during this time, and it is significantly higher than Rohit Sharma’s 111.59, the next best. South Africa will probably encounter at least 20 overs of spin in this match against Afghanistan, with Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan among the front-line bowlers.
Australia will play South Africa in the Champions Trophy on February 25 in Rawalpindi.