Follow UsRassie van der Dussen has scored 220 runs at 36.66 in the World Cup so far, and there are three of his teammates who have scored more than him, which goes to underline what a powerful batting unit South Africa have been in the World Cup.
Van der Dussen is really pleased with how someone or the other from the batting department steps up when needed.
"I would say I'm relatively pleased [with my form]. I've had innings or two where I've contributed. And I think the really positive thing about our batting lineup at the moment is different guys are contributing," Van der Dussen said ahead of his side's game agianst New Zealand on Wednesday (November 1) in Pune.
"Obviously, Quinny [de Kock] is the leading run-scorer and Aiden [Markram] is right there. But around them we've had different people contributing in different times and that's really reassuring for us as a batting unit to know that on different days, different guys might fill up different roles and carry the responsibility.
"But yeah, I'm reasonably pleased that as we hopefully go into the business end of the tournament now, you want to be really at 100%. I think most of our guys are in a pretty good space."
Having said that, van der Dussen says that South Africa are not thinking too far ahead as far as the fight for the semis goes. A win tomorrow will not only see them go top of the table, but they will have put on foot in the semis.
"I think the beauty of this World Cup has been that there's been some upsets. It's really difficult to predict who's going to be there and how the results are going to unfold. So certainly, in our camp, there's no real chat about it," van der Dussen said.
"We really have been good in taking it one game at a time and it's no different for tomorrow. It's there’s a much stronger focus on focusing on our processes and how we want to go about that. We've fallen short at times and we've been really good at times. And sort of shutting out all the World Cup permutation, if I can call it that, we've been really good at."
After a scratchy one-wicket win over Pakistan, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma had said that his team does have a blueprint when batting first, but not the case while they chasing. Speaking about that, van der Dussen says it is all about emulating those tactics while batting second.
"It's been big for us to set the base at the top and really give guys like Markram and David [Miller] the platform to be at their most destructive. And that's something that's been working well for us. And the challenge is for us to emulate that when we're batting second," van der Dussen explained.
"We did, obviously, against Netherlands, we didn't manage that. The other night we managed it at stages. But I think to see it in that sense, it's almost a positive for us because we've been so good at batting first. Once or twice, that you don't get the chase right, then it gets highlighted. Whereas if you look at the past 18 to 24 months we've actually chased pretty well.
"So, yeah, I suppose that people are always going to look for the negatives and that's fine. But yeah, I suppose the challenge for us is to emulate what we do batting first when there's a score to chase."
When asked about what has changed from the 2019 campaign to now, van der Dussen said, "I think the situations we faced in the past four years, whether it be COVID, whether it be Black Lives Matter, SJN [Social Justice and nation Building - A CSA initiative], various political stories that we've had back home and had to manage as a team has really forced us to pull together as a team. That's the one aspect," the batter said.
"I suppose, the effect of us being really tight off the field as well, really knowing each other intimately. And the other fact is, as a group, we've been actually playing together for a very long time. If you look at this - almost between any two members of the squad, there's a real connection. You can find some sort of connection somewhere.
"If you look at the batters, we've been batting together for a long time. If you look at, for example, Quinny and KG [Kagiso Rabada], they've been playing together since young. Same with Temba, same with myself, Reeza [Hendricks]. So, I think there's definitely something different in this team.
"Of course, when you're in it, I suppose you just, you do feel it. And I think we're blessed in the sense that we're in a great space now. We've had to deal with quite a lot of controversy over the last three years. So that's really put us in good stead."
Batting at three, setting a platform for those to follow is certainly a thankless job acknowledges van der Dussen. "I think Quin and Temba often joke about it, saying the reason [Heinrich] Klaasen and the guys get millions at IPL, is because they can come in and hit sixes at the back," the 34-year-old says jokingly.
"But it's is a role that needs to be done, and from my side and other guys as well, we're really happy to be doing it."