South Africa's Heinrich Klassen.
South Africa's Heinrich Klassen. Image Credit: X

The experienced wicket-keeper batter of South Africa, Heinrich Klassen, had a slight brain fade during the second of the three-match ODI series against Pakistan at the Newlands in Cape Town, which they went on lose by 81 runs, having bundled out for just 248 in 43.1 overs in a chase of 330 runs.

The prolific batter of South Africa, Klassen, has been fined 15% of his match fees for committing a level 1 breach of the code of conduct by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Even one demerit point has also been added to the disciplinary record of the middle order batter for violating Article 2.2 of the ICC code of conduct of the players and player support personnel.

This relates to the abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures, and fittings during an international match. The incident took place on the last ball of the encounter, where the batter the batter, having running out of time and partners, decided to go for a big short to the back of a length delivery from Naseem Shah.

South Africa’s Heinrich Klassen was fined 15% of his match fees

The Sunrisers Hyderabad batter failed to get hold of the pull and hit it towards the deep mid-wicket, and Irfan Khan took the catch calmly to end the exciting and aggressive knock of 97 runs in 74 balls at a strike rate of 131.08 with the help of eight boundaries and four sixes.

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South Africa, having already been behind the series with a 0-1 series margin with a three-wicket defeat at the Boland Park in the first game, decided to bowl first on the good surface as some of the attracting players in the form of captain, Temba Bavuma and the middle order aggressive batter, David Miller, returned to the side.

Keeping in mind the upcoming two-match Test series against the same side just a few days later, the Proteas decided to rest Tristian Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton and the premier pacer, Kagiso Rabada, for the second fixture of the series.

The Mohammad Rizwan-led side didn’t have a great start as Abdullah Shafique got an outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper before Saim Ayub could not extend his good knock from the last encounter. The captain of the side then shouldered the responsibility with an 80-run knock in 82 balls thanks to seven boundaries and three sixes.

Babar Azam, the former captain and the veteran of the side, notched up a fifty in international cricket after a long time before miscuing a flick on 73 in 95 balls with the help of seven boundaries. The biggest push for Pakistan in the middle order came from Kamran Ghulam, who drilled a 63-run knock in 32 balls to push them to 330 in 49.5 overs.

All the top-order batters of South Africa got a start but couldn’t convert it into a big score. Tony de Zorzi looked good for his 34 runs, while Rassie van der Dussen also smashed 23 runs, along with the 21-run knock of Aiden Markram.

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The only positive in the chase for them was Klassen, who missed out on his fifth century of the 50-over format. The stand-in T20I captain of South Africa was frustrated after the instance and kicked the stumps upon his dismissal, which led to the sanctions by match referee, Richie Richardson.

The third and final ODI game for South Africa in the series with their strongest possible squad will be on December 22 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.