RCB buy Heinrich Klaasen: Royal Challengers Bangalore buy South Africa wicket-keeper batsman for INR 50 lakh.
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During the ongoing IPL auction for the 12th season of the IPL (Indian Premier League) at Jaipur, IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore acquire the services of South Africa wicket-keeper batsman for INR 50 lakh.
Klaasen, who was priced at INR 50 lakh, didn’t witness many bids coming his way. Just as the auctioneer was about to announce him as unsold, RCB offered their bid for the 27-year old cricketer. With this deal, RCB have also completed their overseas quota of eight players.
Having already bought hard-hitting West Indies middle-order batsman Shimron Hetmyer and India all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube, Klaasen is Royal Challengers’ fourth pick of the auction. Another middle-order batsman, Klaasen is likely to come in handy for RCB.
Klaasen has it in him to use the long handle chiefly during the slog overs in the upcoming season of the IPL. Moreover, middle-order batsman was one major aspect of their line-up which RCB were struggling with.
Having a stellar top-order comprising of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for years, RCB’s batting always received a blow when it came at finishing the innings. Hopefully, that issue will get sorted now.
Klaasen had made his limited-overs debut against India earlier this year. On the back of several mind-blowing performances, Klaasen played his maiden season of the IPL for Rajasthan Royals. However, 57 runs in four matches at an average of 19 and a strike rate of 121.27 forced the Royals to release him.
A T20I and T20 strike rate of 169.41 and 141.08 respectively will make a strong case for the right-hand batsman. For someone who plays spin well, one expects him to be bat in RCB’s lower-middle order during some part of the season.
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