"Didn’t really care about any of my performances and whether the team won" - Heinrich Klaasen's huge revelation about sudden international retirement

South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen opened up about his sudden retirement from international cricket a week ago. Having already retired from Tests, the 33-year-old stunned the cricketing world by announcing his retirement from the white-ball formats on June 2.

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Cricket South Africa (CSA) overlooked Klaasen for a central contract in April, leading some to believe the decision was along expected lines. The middle-order batter played in South Africa's most recent assignment - the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

A week after his retirement, Heinrich Klaasen revealed the reason behind the same in an interview with Rapport (via Wisden):

I felt for a long time that I didn’t really care about any of my performances and whether the team won or not. That’s the wrong place to be. I had a long conversation with Rob [Walter] before the Champions Trophy, and I told him I didn’t feel good in my heart about what was going on. I wasn’t enjoying it that much."

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He added:

"We talked nicely, we planned everything nicely up to and including the World Cup in 2027. So when he finished as coach and the [contract] negotiations [with CSA] didn’t go as planned, it made my decision a lot easier."

Rob Walter was South Africa's white-ball head coach from the start of the 2023 season. While his contract was supposed to be until the 2027 ODI World Cup at home, he resigned after just two years in April this year.

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Under Walter, the Proteas exceeded expectations in their last three ICC events. They reached the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal while finishing runners-up in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

"Now I can spend six, seven months at home" - Heinrich Klaasen

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Heinrich Klaasen expressed his desire to spend more time with his family following his international retirement. The 33-year-old finished his Proteas career with 3,141 runs in 118 white-ball games, including four centuries and 15 half-centuries.

He also played four Tests in his seven-year international career, scoring 104 runs at an average of only 13.

"Now I can spend six, seven months at home. My family needs it, it’s been a long four years with a lot of travel. I need a little rest," said Klaasen (via aforementioned source).

Heinrich Klaasen played in the recently concluded 2025 IPL season, finishing with 487 runs at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 172.69 in 14 games. However, the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) missed the playoffs, finishing sixth on the points table.

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About the author Venkatesh Ravichandran Venkatesh has been writing cricket news, listicle and feature articles for Sportskeeda for over a year. He loves cricket because of the diversity of the playing fields and its unparalleled nuances, which no other sport presents. He also enjoys the analytical and quantitative side of the sport, which originates from his MBA degree and 10 years of experience in the IT industry in companies like Infosys, Atos and TCS.

Venkatesh ensures proper research from reliable sources and social media trends to gather information, and adds his own dash of creativity to create insightful content.

He started watching cricket in the late 1990s, having been impressed with South Africa and New Zealand’s gentleman-like attitude. Domestically, he supports the Chennai Super Kings for their ability to bring the best out of their players owing to a friendly and conducive team environment.

He admires three cricketers the most – Brian Lara for his batting style, AB de Villiers for changing the paradigm of batting and MS Dhoni for his unique cerebral approach to field placings and batting. Along with cricket, Venkatesh also enjoys watching and playing tennis and basketball. In his free time, he finds pleasure in singing and watching movies and web series. Know More

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