Explosive South African batter Rassie van der Dussen talked about how being in an IPL dugout helped him during his side's opening T20I against India on Thursday.
Rassie van der Dussen only played three games and scored 22 runs in his first Indian Premier League (IPL) season, i.e. IPL 2022, for Rajasthan Royals (RR). However, the South African praised the competition for helping him acclimate to the Indian conditions. Following South Africa's run-chase, where he scored an unbeaten 75, he talked about the importance of adapting to the Indian conditions. Van der Dussen, who made India pay after his catch was dropped by Shreyas Iyer when he was on 29, helped South Africa chase its highest T20I total.
In the press conference after the game, van der Dussen said, "Definitely [IPL has helped]. I watched many IPL games and did not get much of an opportunity to play, but I had a pretty good idea of what their bowlers would do and the conditions. Indian conditions are different to what we have in South Africa."
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"I spent two months here, been in these conditions, been in the heat, so had acclimatized to that, and that goes for everyone. We had a lot of guys in the IPL this year, which helped us adapt quickly and get over the line in the first game," added van der Dussen.
Van der Dussen also talked about his match-winning partnership with David Miller and how he reacted to Shreyas Iyer's dropped catch as he said, "I struggled to get the pace of the wicket. I was under pressure. But David continued his form from the IPL, played brilliant innings, put pressure on the bowlers, and pulled me through."
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"He hit [Miller] one or two sixes, and the momentum swung towards us. I was lucky. You got to acknowledge that. But luck is the part of the game. I was lucky. It might have been a different game if Shreyas had caught that ball, saying that we had a lot of batting coming in after that. The key for me was that when he dropped it, I knew I had to make them pay because I took guts to get in, and it was a wicket that got easier once you get in," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)