Klaasen pulls out of CPL 2024 for family reasons

The Caribbean Premier League 2024 is set to begin on Thursday. South African batter Heinrich Klaasen will not participate in this year's tournament. Just before the start of the event, he withdrew from the Caribbean Premier League citing family reasons.

Heinrich Klaasen, a middle-order batter from South Africa, is known as one of the best power hitters in the world. His absence is a significant loss for his team, the Saint Lucia Kings. Prior to the CPL draft, Saint Lucia Kings had directly signed him.

In the previous season, Saint Lucia Kings finished third on the points table and played in the Eliminator. Klaasen was brought in as a replacement for New Zealand's wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert. He played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2022, scoring 118 runs at a strike rate of 137 across 5 matches.

In the following two years, Heinrich Klaasen has played 82 T20 matches for both club and country, amassing 2,293 runs at a strike rate of 169. His tally includes two centuries and 16 half-centuries.