Delhi: South African veteran wicketkeeper batsman Henrik Klassen announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday. Earlier, he had played four Test matches between 2019 and 2023, and had already indicated that he wanted to focus only on the format of limited overs.
According to reports, Klassen plans to play till the ODI World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2027. However, when South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter resigned two years before his tenure, Klassen’s future arose.
Subsequently, Shukri Conrad was appointed as the coach of all formats, after which it could not be agreed to play in four major franchise leagues – IPL, Major League Cricket (MLC), SA20 and The Hundred – between Classen and Cricket South Africa (CSA). For this reason, he was not included in the Central Contract List released in April. However, Klassen made it clear that there were no personal differences between him and coach Conrad.
According to the report, in an interview, Klassen said, “I had talked to Rob before the Champions Trophy and told that I did not feel good at heart. I was not enjoying cricket. We planned up to 2027 World Cups. But, when he was no coach and the contract did not work according to the plan, my decision was easy.”
Klassen’s desire to play in MLC and The Hundred meant that he would remain unavailable for the Zimbabwe-Newzeland TRAI series and Australia’s white ball series. This also became the main reason for the dispute with CSA.
Klassen wants to give time to family
Klassen, who has a two and a half year old daughter, also told that he now wants to spend more time with the family. He said, “Now I can stay at home six-seven months in a year. My family needs it. The last four years have been very busy, now I want some rest.”
A look at career
Klassen has scored 1,000 runs in T20 International and 2,141 runs in ODIs. His average has been above 40 in ODIs, while his strike rate was around 120, which makes him one of the most aggressive and influential batsmen of modern cricket.
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(Tagstotranslate) Heinrich Klaasen (T) South African National Cricket Team