Zaahier Adams
The Proteas are still sweating over the fitness of star batter Heinrich Klaasen ahead of their crunch ICC Champions Trophy clash against Australia in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
Klaasen missed the tournament opener against Afghanistan last week with an elbow injury, and captain Temba Bavuma confirmed that the powerful right-hander will undergo a fitness test at training on Monday.
“We still have to assess his fitness,” Bavuma said. “There's obviously still practice today, so he will do his practice today. Maybe his batting.
“I guess him and the medical team will make the decision accordingly.”
Klaasen has a phenomenal record against the defending world champions with the 33-year-old averaging 57.80 at a strike-rate of 120.
He was particularly destructive against the Aussies during a memorable innings at Centurion when he bashed a career-best 174 off just 83 balls back in September 2023.
Bavuma, though, is confident his team even without Klaasen’s power-hitting can get the job done.
“I would like to think all the South African players will be key. But obviously the Aussies as well,” he said.
“They've got team members there, which they showed in the first game, that can win games for them. Yeah, I guess tomorrow will be the telling as to who can be able to stand up and do it for their team.”
Australia chased down a record 350-plus total against England in their last match, but Bavuma feels that if placed in that situation his team could also do it if necessary due to the placid Pakistan surfaces.
“The wickets are favourable for batting. Batting second does seem to be the thing.
It does seem a bit easier, a bit tougher to defend,” Bavuma said.
“So if we come tomorrow and we look at the conditions and we feel that's the best strategy for us to employ, then so be it.
“If we find ourselves on the other side of the coin toss, we will be very first able to do that extremely well. But yeah, I think like I said before, batting has been favourable.”