Windies have some of the best all-rounders in the world: Lance Klusener

The former South African all-rounder, Lance Klusener, who was one of the best all-rounders of his time, said that he doesn’t see too many quality all-rounders in the current cricketing world, apart from a few West Indies players. Lance Klusener is currently guiding young cricketers in the Ultimate Sport coaching camp organized by Golden Goose.

The current World T20 champions, West Indies have a good mixture of players with power hitters and some great all-rounders in the shortest format of the game. “Windies have some of the best in the world. All-rounders like Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Carlos Braithwaite have done pretty well for the team and their World Twenty2O triumph was praiseworthy,” said Klusener.

Lance Klusener recollected his earlier days where South Africa used to have a lot of all-rounders in their line-up and he feels that apart from Chris Morris, there is not much South Africa currently have. “It’s important to have genuine all-rounders because they will win you the matches. If you talk about South Africa, we were lucky to have some of the world’s best all-rounders in Brian McMillan, Hansie Cronje, Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock. But now barring Chris Morris, we do not have too many players with all-rounder abilities. I think it comes in a circle and I’m sure South Africa will produce some great all-rounders in the coming years,” Klusener added.

Gone are those days, where you can find a spot in your team on the basis of one strength. Fielding is an integral part of the game nowadays. Klusener says that one doesn’t need to be extremely talented to be a good fielder. It rather requires hard work and proper guidance to improve fielding technique. Fielding is one aspect which is non-negotiable. Quality fielders will make the difference. Nowadays, it’s difficult for a cricketer to prolong his career on the basis of one strength. It’s important for a batsman to be a good fielder and same applies to a bowler too. You can’t compromise with it,” the 44-year-old explained.

When queried about who is better among AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, “No way you can compare these two players because both of them are the best and can win you matches single-handedly. It would be unfair on my part to single out one of them,” he added.

After his retirement in 2004, he served as the chief coach of Dolphins and as bowling coach for Mumbai Indians. “Yes, that’s my aim. I’ve been working out my plans and priority is to get back to some serious coaching in near future. I have coached a high-profile team like Mumbai Indians and hope to be back in Indian Premier League soon,” Klusener signed off.