Heinrich Klaasen was 33 when he retired from international cricket. At the time, he was one of the best ODI players in the world, keeping up with the likes of Rohit Sharma, David Warner and Virat Kohli while scoring quicker than all of them.Even now, 11 months later, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Klaasen had ridden off into the sunset while everyone else was still figuring out lunch. He is averaging over 50 and striking at over 150 in IPL 2026. Out of 198 batters, Kohli, Sanju Samson, Quinton de Kock and Venkatesh Iyer are the only others with that double.It is not always easy for a player to keep up with T20 cricket once he’s off the international circuit. Suresh Raina was Chennai Super Kings’ main man after the main man all through his India career. His lean years were the two immediately after he lost his place in the national side. AB de Villiers started slowing down without regular games to keep up his level. He could only push his freelance ambitions for three seasons after hanging up his South Africa jersey. Trent Boult is stuck in that cycle now and Klaasen threatened to join him, a stint as captain of Seattle Orcas in Major League Cricket backfiring.Middling performances in the Hundred and the SA20 followed but when Klaasen joined Sunrisers Hyderabad something changed. He started taking more time for himself. His first-10-balls strike rate this IPL is 138.98. In the previous three, it was up at 152.17. He’s been putting a higher price on his wicket. His false shot (15.15) percentage is the second-best of 52 batters who have faced 100 balls this season.SRH having a fast-starting top three and a fast-starting finisher has allowed Klaasen to default to the way he normally plays – get in, get set, then go – which in turn has helped increase his output to never before seen levels.
“He shouldn’t have retired,” SRH fast bowling coach Varun Aaron said ahead of their game against CSK. And yet more and more players are now willing to exchange the best years of their international careers for financial security. Klaasen felt the need to do so when his kids, who travel with him everywhere, started confusing the hotels they stayed at with their home. He too hated being away all the time and when he was asked to finally choose, he picked a life on his terms. CSA did not push back which seemed to reinforce his decision. Both parties are happy(ish) with where they’re at. South Africa have even gone on to win their first ICC title and made a deep run in the recent T20 World Cup.
All of this is the result of franchise T20; the money that’s been pumped in, the opportunities on offer, and the glory to be had. The IPL finals in 2019 and 2023 rank among the best games ever played in the format. Last year, when the BBL posted a video of Brett Lee’s last over in professional cricket, it earned half a million views on Instagram. Those six balls happened a decade ago and they still live on. St Lucians gathered in Derek Walcott square to celebrate West Indies’ T20 title in 2016 and on the same patch of land, to the same party music, the same happy people came together to recognise a CPL title in 2024. Nothing can match the prestige of being world champions but these league wins are gaining a legitimacy all of their own.
Earlier, when franchise T20 was still trying to establish a foothold in the calendar, it had to prey on the differences between players and their boards, or mine the fringes of teams with better relationships. It’s different now. SRH picked up Klaasen when he was 31 for USD 640,000 approx. Three months after he turned 33, he had done enough to merit being their top retention, at USD 2.74 million a year approx. for three years. One month before he turned 34, he stepped back from South Africa duty. Players at his level – the elite – are the ones breaking away now.
“Klaasen is one of the best T20 batters over the last seven to eight years,” Aaron said. “And there was no reason that his performance would dip. In fact, he’s gotten even better because playing for SRH, especially coming into bat after you have our top three who are really explosive, to maintain the same tempo or even to shift a gear down and then go up towards the end is not easy at all. He makes it look unbelievably easy and I think he is the fulcrum of our batting order.”
An international team functions on the basis of a hierarchy and some non-negotiables. There is a clear line with team above self. A franchise team knows it is actually in its best interest to keep their superstars super happy and, guess what, they’re starting to take notice.
