Ken Borland

Heinrich Klaasen not only has the challenge of leading South Africa on his first venture back on to the park since late November due to catching Covid, but also doing it with a Proteas T20 squad that is missing some major personnel.

The 29-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman has not played since the second T20 against England in Paarl on November 29, having tested positive for Covid shortly before the first ODI against the tourists, a series which was eventually cancelled. And Klaasen revealed just how badly he was affected by the coronavirus.

“It’s been a difficult summer for me, I’ve only played four games, which has been very frustrating. But I finally recovered after Covid hit me quite hard. It’s difficult to say how my form is, but I’m hitting the ball very nicely in the nets. I’ve worked hard at the Titans to get my rhythm back and I’m looking forward to having a good series after a difficult two months.

“For the first 16-17 days I was very sick and could not do much. I couldn’t practise or even run 20-30 metres or exercise for two or three minutes without my heartrate getting too high. So I had to go through the protocols to build myself back up again, until I could exercise for 10-15 minutes or walk 200 metres. But it took a long time to get my heart-rate under control.

“I needed to get past the phase of it being too dangerous for me to train, which meant two months at home doing nothing. I had a week in the bush and then I’ve trained very hard for the last three weeks and I’m fit and safe now,” Klaasen said from Lahore on Tuesday.

Captaining South Africa for the first time, Klaasen will still have some experienced heads out on the field with him, even though the likes of Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje are resting after the Test series. But Junior Dala, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi and Jon-Jon Smuts are experienced cricketers who will form the core of the side.

“We are by no means a second-string team although a couple of guys aren’t here, but we have rested guys quite a bit in the past. It gives other players an opportunity and they deserve it for the good form they have shown domestically, they have shown their skills. So we are definitely aiming to win the series and play to the best of our ability. It’s going to be massive for our senior players to step up and I look forward to that.

“A couple of youngsters with unbelievable potential will come in and we definitely want to give those guys more opportunity. And to have David Miller, who has played here before, helping the guys out is great because he has knowledge on the ground. We have a very strong squad and we are here to win the series, we don’t expect anything less,” Klaasen said.

But Pakistan have similarly been unable to include seasoned stars like Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim.