Follow UsRassie van der Dussen wants to use the ongoing SA20 as a platform to relaunch his T20I career. The 34-year-old, who hasn’t played a T20I since September 2023, smashed a 50-ball 104 against Joburg Super Kings and is eager to be part of South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad.
The right-hander was dropped from the T20I set-up after managing scores of 6, 21, 4, 10, 20, 1 and 1 in his last seven innings. Prior to these seven innings, van der Dussen was averaging 42 and had a strike rate of 132.8 in 35 T20Is.
“There's a T20 World Cup later this year and I want to be in a position to hopefully put in strong performances for that. The last few series, I haven't been playing and there've been some guys who have played really well,” said van der Dussen, who smoked nine fours and six maximums during his fourth T20 hundred.
“The last time I played was against Australia where I got one or two starts but I did not really convert. I am realistic in the sense that maybe my international T20 numbers in the last year or two, albeit not being bad, haven't shot the lights out.
“I know what I can do. I know what kind of T20 player I can be and hopefully today is the start of that. I have this SA20, then I am going to PSL and then we have domestic CSA T20, so it's going to be three to four months of T20 cricket and I can really focus on that.
"As a player all you can really do is put on the performances and put the numbers on the board. I am not special, I am not above anyone else. If it's going to be a shoot out but if they are going to select performances, then your name needs to be up there."
Van der Dussen might face stiff competition from his MI Cape Town opening partner Ryan Rickelton, who is currently the leading run-scorer in the SA20. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has scores of 87 and 98 and has operated at a strike rate of 185.
Quinton de Kock is a certain starter for South Africa but Reeza Hendricks’ spot is not completely guaranteed and van der Dussen feels Rickelton could break into the side if he keeps performing the way he has been performing of late.
"I think he's been hard done by to not be involved in any of the squads against India. He's had a really good two to three years in all formats and he was in the mix earlier in the year and got left out. I know how badly he wants to play international cricket. He has had a taste of it at Test level but he is a brilliant fifty-over and Test player," van der Dussen said.
"Quinny (de Kock) will be moving on and Ryan fits into that mould of someone who can replace Quinny. He definitely has the game. He's very resilient and sometimes setbacks give you a platform to come back.
“I know how hard he works, he keeps his head down, he was disappointed not to be in the Proteas squads, anyone would be, but he has worked on it. I really hope it continues and he has a strong tournament to remind people he's still there and he's a world-class player. I've seen what he can do and I suppose if he puts the numbers on, you can't really ignore him."