South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen shined with the bat in the recently-concluded first T20I against India at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The right-handed batter played an unbeaten knock of 75 runs and formed an undefeated 131-run stand with David Miller (64 not out) to help Proteas gun down the massive target of 212 runs.
Though, Van der Dussen was struggling to score runs initially as he managed just 29 runs in his first 30 deliveries, putting pressure on his batting partner Miller in a mammoth chase. But once Van der Dussen was dropped on 29 by Shreyas Iyer in the 16th over, the Pretoria-born made India pay as he blasted 45 runs in the next 15 balls.
After the game, the 33-year-old revealed that he wanted India to pay after his catch was dropped. Van der Dussen said he was determined to make the most of the extra opportunity he received.
“The key for me was that when that catch was dropped, I knew I had to make India pay. I took a good few balls to get in, and it was a wicket that got a lot easier once you were in. It was tough to get yourself set. I knew I was in, and I had to make them pay,” said Van der Dussen after South Africa’s 7-wicket win.
“I did put myself and the team under pressure by not being able to hit early boundaries. Sometimes [your approach] just doesn’t come off, and other days it does. Some days you’re lucky, others, you’re not. And tonight, I was lucky. If Shreyas had caught that ball, it might’ve been a different game. That said, we had a lot of batting still to come,” he added.
