Pietersen suggests Klaasen’s ODI retirement U-turn could help South Africa realise World Cup dream

South Africa broke their ICC trophy jinx with their maiden World Test Championship (WTC) crown last year, but have yet to put their hands on a white-ball trophy since 1998. Although they were the inaugural winners of the ICC Champions Trophy, the Proteas haven’t won either the T20 or ODI World Cups to date. With the next edition scheduled for Africa (South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe) next year, the tournament's co-hosts have a chance to end the drought. However, Kevin Pietersen has suggested a way to fix their 'missing piece' and chase glory, and it's none other than Heinrich Klaasen.

Klaasen has been in some form since the start of IPL 2026, having already smashed four fifties, joint-most with PBKS pair Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh. He is currently second on the table for most runs scored this season (414) in nine contested matches, only behind his teammate and opener Abhishek Sharma (425). Klaasen's run-scoring spree has come in handy for SRH as they have now completed five successive wins, grabbing the third spot on the points table.

Klaasen was instrumental to his team’s latest win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede, where they completed a 244-run chase with six wickets and eight balls remaining. And with that, they created history for the highest successful T20 run chase at the venue.

Taking to his social media handle X, KP wrote that Klaasen is the missing piece in that Proteas unit, which, upon being filled, can challenge for the World Cup. KP added that he must receive a phone call sooner rather than later, with CSA asking Heinrich to come out of retirement and play the showpiece event. Impressed with his rich vein of form, KP added that a team must be built around Klaasen.

“South Africa have never won a cricket World Cup! There should be a phone call this morning, from the South African cricket board, to Heinrich Klaasen, to ask him if he can rejoin international cricket and be a central figure in their campaign to try and win their first ever World Cup, which will be in South Africa next year,” KP posted on X.

Meanwhile, the right-handed batter earlier announced his international retirement on June 2 last year, to prioritise family time, manage emotional fatigue, and focus on global T20 franchise leagues. Although he remains active across franchise cricket worldwide, his unlikely return to the national team would definitely boost their chances of winning their maiden ODI World Cup at home.