The South African Heinrich Klaasen has made a shocking move, announcing his retirement from all forms of International Cricket.

The wk-batter made his South Africa debut in 2018 in the ODI match against India in Cape Town.  He announced his decision over social media with a emotional note and the one that took a long time to reach.

He admitted that walking away from international cricket his best for himself and his family. He admitted that he has immense respect for his country and took immense pride for representing south africa on the global stage.

“It is a sad day for me as I announce that I have decided to step away from international cricket. It took me a long time to decide what’s best for me and my family for the future. It was truly a very difficult decision but also one that I have absolute peace with,” Klaasen wrote on Instagram.

“From the first day, it was the biggest privilege representing my country and it was everything that I have worked for and dreamed about as a young boy,” he added.

“I have made great friendships and relationships that I will treasure for life.

Playing for the Proteas gave me the opportunity to meet great people that changed my life, and to those people I can’t say thank you enough.”

“My road to wearing the Proteas shirt was different than most and there were certain coaches in my career that kept believing in me – to them I will always be grateful.”

Heinrich Klaasen has represented South Africa 60 ODIs scoring 2141 runs at an average of 43.69. He has also represented the national side on 58 T20s scoring 1000 runs, and 104 runs in test format.

Klaasen has been a notable figure in franchise leagues around the world.

Recently, he was part of the Indian Premier League 2025  season, representing Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Sunrisers Hyderabad has also retained him for INR 23 crore for the IPL 2025.

He had an excellent campaign while scoring 487 runs in 14 matches, including a century for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.