Heinrich Klaasen says the pressure of playing in the IPL has made the Proteas mentally stronger.

Klaasen helped the Sunrisers Hyderabad reach this season’s IPL final by scoring 479 runs at an average of 39.92 and a strike rate of 171.07.

“A lot of the guys have played in the IPL, where there’s a lot of pressure and expectations. So, we can build on that, stay calm and just focus on our performance,” Klaasen told Rapport newspaper ahead of the Proteas’ opening match of the T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka in New York on Monday.

“I’m a firm believer that if our performance is good, there’s no team who can beat us. We play good cricket. The team has a maturity about it and we blend well together.

“Our first few games are going to be the most important for us. We’re in a tough group so it’s important that we get off to a really good start. That will let us relax and then we can build on our confidence and focus on what we do best.”

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Klaasen said he was pleased with his IPL campaign despite a dip in form in the middle of the tournament when he moved away from his game plan.

“I was trying to achieve a strike rate of over 200 because the pitches were good for batting and the dominance of the batsmen was at a new level,” he explained.

“My strike rate dropped to 180 and I started looking at my numbers, rather than just playing. I tried to hit more sixes to get back to a strike rate of 200.

“I had a nice, hard conversation with myself and also spoke to AB de Villiers, and stopped looking at my numbers. I went back to what I normally do and my level of play straightened out immediately. The problem was my focus, which was wrong.

“But in the IPL you are measured by the number of sixes you hit and your strike rate. Nobody looks at your average.”

Photo: BCCI