Former India batter turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has picked South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen as one of the batters to watch out for at the upcoming ODI World Cup in India. As per him, Klaasen is at the top of the list among attacking batters from overseas nations as well. However, South Africa will resume their journey to win their maiden World Cup title during the 2023 edition in India. While they are not among the favourites, they have some genuine match-winners in the likes of Klaasen, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada who can turn the tables.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Heinrich Klaasen is not a top-order batter. But, among overseas batters, no one plays attacking cricket better than him. The specialty of this batter is that he picks length very quickly and looks to attacks the ball. He uses the depth of the crease really well to get power into his big hits.”
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He again shared: “Whoever bats in the middle overs, there will be five fielders in the circle at that point. One gap will always be there. Heinrich Klaasen is slightly underrated, I don’t know why. I rated him very highly. For South Africa to do well, Klaasen will have to do well because lower middle-order batters can make game-changing contributions. I have lot of hopes from him as he is a very effective cricketer.”
Apart from Klaasen, Aakash Chopra also picked New Zealand’s Devon Conway and England’s Dawid Malan as two underrated overseas batters who can do well in the World Cup 2023 as well. The marquee event will begin with a match between England and New Zealand in Ahmedabad on October 5.
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“Devon Conway is an opener. He is a really good player who knows how to control the game. He has the experience of playing IPL. He is very good at playing the chip and sweep shots, cuts and pulls as well. He has a big appetite for runs,” Chopra stated.“Dawid Malan is also a top-order batter, who has scored a lot of runs, but he might be tested against spin in India. Malan doesn’t give his wicket away easily,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
