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Will Heinrich Klaasen Play for South Africa Again? SRH Star Responds to Pietersen Remark

Will Heinrich Klaasen Play for South Africa Again? SRH Star Responds to Pietersen Remark

Cricket Gully 2 weeks ago

South African cricketing star Heinrich Klaasen has reiterated his stance on never returning to international cricket for his country despite increasing clamors to make a comeback for South Africa during the Indian Premier League 2026.

It was in June 2025 when Klaasen retired from international cricket. When Klaasen retired, he was still at his peak and had been instrumental to South Africa reaching the finals of the T20 World Cup in 2024.

Now that he is performing impressively in IPL 2026, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has called on Cricket South Africa to recall Klaasen to represent South Africa in the 2027 ODI World Cup. However, Klaasen is adamant about never returning.

Response to Call for Comeback

Klaasen said:

"No, unfortunately not. For me, I'm looking forward to what's a new chapter in my life and it's growing the game of cricket. I'm really looking forward to partnering up with Rotterdam and we're really pushing hard to make this thing happen and to make sure that we run a professional business and we're looking forward to getting the community behind us and getting the right infrastructure and the right people behind us to make this a success."

When talking about his future plans, Klaasen revealed that he now has other things to attend to rather than playing for his nation in international cricket. Currently, he plays for the Rotterdam franchise of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL).

The Secret Behind his IPL 2026 Form

This season Klassen has performed well and is second in the Orange Cap rankings having amassed 414 runs in nine games for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Klassen has been very consistent compared to the rest of the players who have struggled to perform after hanging up their boots on their respective countries.

When questioned on his success, Klassen stated that there is no real secret or something extraordinary about it. He cited an example in the face of Faf du Plessis who has continued to dominate in T20 leagues post his retirement from international cricket.

Klaasen said:

"I don't think there's a secret. I think it's the belief. If you look at our co-partner, Faf du Plessis, he's like old wine. The longer he plays, the better he's becoming. So, he's been dominating leagues around the world since he's retired from international cricket."

He added:

"So, it shows you that it is possible. It's just about you need to take a little bit more care off the field and what you do and how you prepare for the big leagues. It's not like you can just have a holiday and just walk into these leagues."

He continued on to state the importance of being mentally fresh, and of adequate preparations before commencing on playing in a tournament such as this

Former Proteas said:

"It's a couple of weeks to months preparation before to make sure that you're at least on speed with the game and then maybe come a couple of weeks earlier to get some proper warm-up games in. So, it's just a change of structure and how you will do it than what you normally would have done. But it is doable."

He added:

"The only benefit for me at this moment is that I'm mentally fresh when you come into a league like this. That makes it a lot easier."

Klaasen will next be seen in action when Sunrisers Hyderabad play Kolkata Knight Riders on May 3 in Hyderabad.

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