Yesterday was a unique day as 3 different ODI Matches were taking place at different venues across the world. First England were playing against New Zealand at Lord’s where David Malan hit a wonderful century and England won the match. Then in Sri Lanka India were playing against Bangladesh in the last Super 4s match of the Asia Cup. In this match Shubman Gill hit an incredible 121 as India lost the match by 6 Runs. However the innings that stood out and the one that will be talked about for years and the one which will instill fear in the minds of all the opponents at World Cup is the 174 by Heinrich Klassen.
Let’s look at this once in a lifetime innings by Heinrich Klassen
Heinrich Klassen absolutely destroyed Australia
This was the 4th ODI between South Africa and Australia and it was taking place at SuperSport Park in Centurion. South Africa were batting first and during the first 35 overs they were less than 200 and it was looking like they were going nowhere. South Africa were playing at a good rate but they were not able to accelerate. Then David Miller came to the crease and everything changed. Heinrich Klassen made 150 runs from 50 odd balls. He and David Miller had a partnership of 222 runs in just 15 overs. It was truly one of the best ball striking ever seen.
Heinrich Klassen was a beast as he was 24 runs from 25 balls at one point and from there he exploded as he hit 13 fours and 13 huge sixes in this innings meaning 130 runs in boundaries alone out of 174. He hit sixes to the leg side, to the off side, every part of the ground was hit with a six. And David Miller was not far behind as he also made 82 from 45 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes meaning 50 runs in boundaries. Heinrich Klassen had a mind boggling strike rate of 209.64 in an ODI Match. South Africa made 416 runs in 50 overs which was the highest score by a team in an ODI at Super Sport Park. And the partnership of 222 between Heinrich Klassen and David Miller was the best 5th wicket partnership by South Africa.
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This innings by Heinrich Klassen was a reminder that the World Cup in India will be played in this way where all the teams will come with an attacking mindset and they will look to hit big scores and hit big hundreds. Scores over 350 will a regular occurrence and the Indian batters are not ready to hit that many Runs on a constant basis. This 174 and the 182 by Ben Stokes where he hit 15 fours and 9 sixes are a reminder that no team is coming to India to be second fiddle and it will be the best World Cup of all time. Less than 20 data are left for England vs New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. South Africa will be looking to break the curse of not winning an ICC tournament
