South Africa chased down a rain-reduced target of 202 in 28 overs in the 4th ODI with five wickets and 15 balls to spare to keep alive their hopes of sharing the six-match series after losing the first three games. Wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen, who remained unbeaten on 43 off 27 balls, was handed the man of the match award. The right-hander's innings included five fours and a six. A boundary that Klaasen scored in the 22nd over left the cricketing world surprised. Yuzvendra Chahal anticipated Klaasen to go after him and hence darted the ball short and wide outside off. Klaasen moved across to the ball and pulled it over square leg for a one-bounce boundary. Even MS Dhoni had moved behind the batsman.
The Way MS followed Klaasen & the Ball ??#IndvsSA pic.twitter.com/qw1PhJdzza
— Sriram (@ImSriram_) February 10, 2018
While some fans described that shot as 'crazy', others compared Klaasen to AB de Villiers.
That shot is called confidence Klaasen out of this world and in his own class #sabccricket
— Jim Wealth (@AligningWealth) February 10, 2018
That is a special shot from Klaasen. Shades of AB in it. #SAvIND
— Static_357 (@Static_a357) February 10, 2018
Klaasen went to Durban to hit that wide! You... What a shot... #SABCcricket
— Deshen Parumaul (@Papa_Desh) February 10, 2018
That's one unbelievable mad shot by Klaasen. He went all the way outside off stumps and hits it to the fence with ease#SAvIND
— Mohammed Arif Khan (@mdarifkhan87) February 10, 2018
That crazy shot by Klaasen was straight out of AB De Villiers school of batting. #SAvIND
— sabuktgeen (@sabuktgeen) February 10, 2018
Klaasen said he was surprised by the decision of Indian skipper Virat Kohli to not bowl Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah at the death in Johannesburg.
Kohli instead opted for the wrist-spinners at the business end of the hosts' innings but the decision didn't pay off as Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were taken for plenty.
"I was very surprised," Klaasen said about Kohli's strategic call to keep Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah away from the action at the death after South Africa's target was revised.
"David (Miller) and I thought they would have kept them (the pacers) 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."
Kohli's decision didn't work as the spin duo failed to contain the Proteas for once, leaking 119 runs in 11.3 overs for just 3 wickets between them.
The 26-year-old wicket-keeper batsman, who replaced injured Quinton de Kock, said that it was Yadav who had worried the Proteas in the series so far with his variations.
"I wouldn't say (we have solved the spin riddle). The problem at beginning of series was that we didn't pick the chinaman (Yadav). That obviously makes the difference not to be able to score against him," said Klaasen,
(With inputs from PTI)
- South Africa won the 4th ODI by 5 wickets
- India lead the 6-match series 3-1
- Klaasen was named man-of-the-match in the 4th ODI