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Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener is enjoying his maiden stint as assistant coach with the Lucknow Super Giants in the cash-rich Indian Premier League and believes that the new success mantra in this slapdash format is to bat fearlessly.
One of the best finishers of his time, Klusener feels that experienced South African Heinrich Klaasen has changed the character of Twenty20 cricket with his style of fearless batting and happens to be the best in the world in this format.
“It was a different cricket in our playing days. Now, the style of batting has changed and this T20 cricket is something very amazing and enjoyable. I saw the last night between Hyderabad Sunrisers and Mumbai Indians in bits and pieces, but Klaasen was amazing and the way he is batting in this IPL is very admirable,” said Klusener on Thursday.
In the match against MI on Wednesday night, Klaasen hit a quickfire 34-ball 80 with the help of four boundaries and seven sixes as SRH won the game by 31 runs in Hyderabad. Travis Head (62), Abhishek Sharma (63), and even Aiden Markram (42*) also made a mockery of MI bowling with their aggressive batting.
“He (Klaasen) has got good understanding of this format of the game. He has set new standards in the game with his fearless batting, and I don’t feel anybody is close to him right now in the world,” he said, adding, “For Team India, MS Dhoni used to do this kind of batting for a long time in the past.”
Klusener, who scored 1000 plus runs in 53 T20 games and took 29 wickets before playing his last T20 game in 2010, also said that the best part of Klaasen’s batting is that he has got the right vision. “He (Klaasen) can hit the ball with sheer power and his vision to hit the ball as per his pick and he knows the area from where he can get maximum runs. He prepares well for the match and technically has got a great swing, power as well as style.”
“The new generation of batters showed a variety of hitting in the T20 cricket, and they make sure that scoreboard moves on a fast pace. It was nice to see a record-breaking score in the match. It was a good batting wicket, but not so good bowling and it helped the batters to score big runs. That’s the new standard of the IPL,” said Klusener.
“Batters have become more innovative in style and skillful now. We were less innovated in our time but this T20 cricket has allowed the new generation to show the different skills of bowling and batting, and now the feeling of cricket is very high,” he said.
Klusener, who has served in various coaching roles, with Dolphins in South Africa, Zimbabwe, the BPL, Afghanistan,, and now in the IPL, admires LGS’s skipper KL Rahul for his commitment with both willow and gloves and said that the 31-year-old can help the side have another good season.
“Captaining the side for back-to-back Playoff finishes in the IPL is commendable on the part of KL Rahul, and I admire his leadership quality. He has been a wonderful leader, who has tremendous respect in the team. Rahul’s performance speaks the volume of his caliber,” said Klusener, who also feels that working alongside former Australian great and chief coach of LSG, Justin Langer, is a great experience for him.
“Langer has been a great human being, cricketer and coach also and I am learning so many things from him. It’s great to work alongside him (Langer) and I feel that it’s a big opportunity for me too to grow further in experience in the company of Langer,” said the veteran cricketer.
In his role with the LSG, Klusener said that he was trying to let the batters know how to hit big boundaries on almost every delivery in the match. “I was the coach of Afghanistan when they played against West Indies here in Lucknow and I am putting all my knowledge of this ground in making sure that as how the LSG batters hit boundaries at the Ekana stadium here in Lucknow as setting big total in the home matches will make a big difference to the side,” he said.
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