Rassie van der Dussen was finding it tough initially as South Africa were chasing a daunting 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 as the star dropped his catch in the 16th over of the innings and from there on, there was no looking back for the South African. The right-handed batter changed the tempo of his innings, and along with David Miller, ensured that the visitors walk away with a victory.
The batter had hit Harshal Patel for 22 runs in the 17th over, swinging the momentum in favour of South Africa, and in the end, the Proteas registered a seven-wicket win with five balls to spare.
van der Dussen remained unbeaten on 75 off 46 balls.
When asked about facing Harshal during a press conference after the game, 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 David Miller had put on 131 runs for the fourth wicket, and the duo ended India's hopes of registering most T20I wins on a trot. Initially, Miller was the aggressor as Rassie found it tough to rotate the strike.
“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 innings 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 square off in the second T20I which will be played on Sunday at Cuttack.