South African right-hand batter Rassie van der Dussen played an unbeaten knock of 75 against India to chase down the target of 212 in the first T20I.
Rassie van der Dussen was finding it difficult as South Africa was up for the chase of 212 against India in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
However, he was given a life by Shreyas Iyer who dropped his catch in the 16th over of the innings, and from there on, there was no comeback for the South African.
The right-hander increased the pace of his innings along with David Miller who ensured a victory for South Africa. He hit 22 runs to Harshal Patel in the 17th over, swinging the momentum completely in favor of South Africa, and in the end, the Proteas sealed a convincing seven-wicket victory with five balls to spare.
Van der Dussen remained unbeaten on 75 off just 46 balls at the end of his innings.
When asked about facing Harshal in a press conference, van der Dussen said:
“I have been watching him bowl in the IPL, he’s been brilliant. He’s got such a good slower ball. I think the end he bowled from played into my hands because of the short boundary. So, I knew after getting those first two sixes away he had to go to his slower ball. And then it’s a matter of picking it and keeping your head still while trying to execute.”
“It’s a very tough ball to hit. He gets a lot of energy in it, gets a lot of dip on it, but again he’s only human. You know that at some stage he is going to miss. As a batter you’ve just got to stay strong and stay patient through those balls that he bowls so well,”
he added.
Rassie and Miller put on a solid 131-run stand for the fourth wicket and the duo ended India’s getting back in the game and register the most consecutive T20I wins. Initially, Rassie found it difficult to rotate the strike and Miller was the aggressor.
“I was under a bit of pressure but David, the form that he’s (been) in the IPL, he just brought that in. He put the pressure on the bowlers from the start. He played a brilliant inning just to throw me through that phase there. As soon as he hit one of those sixes the momentum sort of started shifting towards us and we knew if we would take it to the end, we’d get close,”
said Rassie.
India and South Africa will now face each other in the second T20I which will be played at Cuttack on Sunday.