'I knew I had to make India pay' - Rassie van der Dussen on his dropped catch by Shreyas Iyer

Proteas batter Rassie van der Dussen top-scored with a knock of 75* in South Africa’s win over India on June 9 (Thursday) at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) game of the five-match series. He was dropped at 29 by Shreyas Iyer, and the South African later said that he knew he had to make India pay for the dropped catch.

Van der Dussen struggled to get going early on in the innings, managing to score only 29 runs in his first 30 deliveries. He said that although he took a few balls to get in, the wicket got easier with time. He feels that if Iyer had caught that ball, it would have been a different game.

I did put myself and the team under pressure: Rassie van der Dussen

Van der Dussen feels that his approach comes well sometimes and does not on other times, adding that he can be lucky on some days as he was in the first T20I against India. He also admitted that he put himself and his team under pressure by not being able to hit boundaries early on. 

“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, as quoted by India Today. “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.”

South Africa won by seven wickets and also completed their highest ever chase in T20I. South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bowl first. Indian batters scored a mammoth total of 211 with a loss of four wickets, courtesy of the opening batter Ishan Kishan who scored 76 off 48 deliveries. In the second innings, after losing three wickets for 81, it was David Miller and Van der Dussen who took the game away completely in South Africa’s favour. Miller was adjudged as Man of the Match for his knock of 64* off 31.