Heinrich Klaasen will lead the South African team for their upcoming T20I series against Pakistan in February.
South African batsman and wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaasen has officially been named as the captain for the team’s upcoming three-T20I series against Pakistan. This will not be his first time to lead a team as he already shared his experience with the Titans and with Mzansi Super League’s Spartans back in 2019.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has already named their 18-man squad that includes only four of the 21 players who are currently in Pakistan to play Test matches. Namely, the four who had been included in the T20I squad are Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi, George Linde, and Lutho Sipamla. The rest of the Test squad will then return to the country to prepare for their home Test series against Australia by March.
As per CSA director Graeme Smith, ‘The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled sporting bodies to find innovative ways of ensuring tours and sporting events take place as planned or with as little disruption to revised plans as possible’.
‘We are not exempt from that and have had to do a bit of outside-of-the-box thinking to ensure that we are fully prepared for a home Test tour against Australia, while having an exciting T20 series to compete in, in Pakistan. We're in the final stages of concluding plans for how the coaching and support staff will also be managed for the two tours. It's an example of the measures that some cricket nations will have to put in place to ensure that they can squeeze more than one tour in a period of three or four months while fulfilling COVID-19 protocol obligations’, Smith added.
The three T20Is against Pakistan are scheduled to be played on February 11, 13, and 14 at the Gaddafi Stadium. To further understand how T20Is are played, head over to Betwala.
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