Klaasen relieved after clinching thriller: Not nice on the heart

New York,UPDATED: Jun 11, 2024 00:19 IST

South Africa wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen has joked that the team's thriller against Bangladesh was not nice on the heart. South Africa beat Bangladesh by just 4 runs at the Nassau County Stadium in New York. Chasing just 114 runs, Bangladesh faltered in the final over, failing to hit two ranks full tosses for a six.

Batting against Keshav Maharaj, Mahmudullah was caught at long-on, inches from the boundary rope, in the penultimate ball of the match. The final ball of the match also also a full toss, which resulted in just a single run, handing the win to South Africa, who maintained their perfect record vs BAN in T20Is.

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Speaking after the game at the post-match presentation, Klaasen said that the wicket at New York was not good for shot making. The batter credited his partner David Miller for sharing knowledge from the last game. The duo added 79 runs for the 5th wicket, the highest partnership in New York in the T20 World Cup 2024.

"It was not so nice on the heart but glad to go over the line. The wicket is not great for strokeplay but David showed in the previous game how to bat on this wicket. Got info from him. We got a decent score but were 10 runs short. We got experience and more or less a one-day mindset till the 15-over mark," Klaasen said after the match.

"Win will give big confidence for the boys. We're through which is nice. One more to go and then onto the next phase," Klaasen concluded.

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South Africa are all but through to the next round in the T20 World Cup. SA have won all their matches so far (3) and have 6 points to their name. The team has only played low-scoring thrillers and will hope for a better show with the bat in future.