South African middle-order batter, Heinrich Klaasen, opened up on the retirement of his countryman Quinton de Kock, who confirmed before the start of the mega event that he will call time on his Test and ODI career.
De Kock is one of the finest wicketkeeper batters of all time and the 30-year-old showed his elite batting skills in the World Cup as he has now hit three centuries and also the tournament’s highest individual score of 174 against Bangladesh on October 24 in Mumbai.
Fellow wicketkeeper batter Klaasen, who has also been in astounding form, stated that it will be difficult to convince the 30-year-old to change his mind from retiring after the World Cup.
“It’s going to be tough to convince him not to retire. He has been phenomenal for us and he has been great for South Africa over the years. It’s sad to see him leave, but hopefully, he will leave on a good note. He has been brilliant for us in the tournament,” Klaasen was quoted as saying on Star Sports.
De Kock is the top-scorer of the tournament with 407 runs to his name in five innings at an average of 81.40 and a strike rate of 114.97.
Earlier on Tuesday, chasing the mammoth target of 383 runs against South Africa, Bangladesh never looked in the game as they lost early wickets and were 31-3 in just 7.1 overs.
Despite losing wickets early on, Mahmudullah showed excellent composure and temperament as the 37-year-old scored his third World Cup hundred, scoring 111 runs off 111 balls with 11 fours and four sixes, but his heroics weren't enough as the target was too big.
Bangladesh were soon all out for 233 runs in 46.4 overs.
Batting first, Quinton de Kock played one of the most destructive knocks ever and scored 174 off just 140 deliveries with 15 fours and seven sixes.
The 30-year-old built two long partnerships, first with skipper Aiden Markram, then with Heinrich Klaasen of 131 and 142 runs respectively.
De Kock departed after contributing 174 runs after which Klaasen took the responsibility of continuing the destructive batting.
The right-handed batter scored 90 runs off just 49 balls with the help of 10 boundaries, two fours and eight sixes.
After Klaasen was out, David Miller scored a six and took his side's total to 382, which turned out to be too big for Shakib Al Hasan's men.
- Heinrich Klaasen
- Quinton De Kock