South Africa have produced top-tier batters such as AB De Villiers, Hashim Amla, and Faf Du Plessis, and among current batters, Rassie Van Der Dussen appears to be carrying on the heritage.
In the first game against India, both Temba Bavuma and RVD hit a century, but it was the Player-of-the-Match awardee, van der Dussen’s performance, that stood out the most, as he took the first innings, and ultimately the match, away from India. In the end, he scored his ODI-best unbeaten 129 off just 96 balls. On a day when the heat was exhausting, he smashed four sixes over the fence and nine fours, with more than half of his runs coming from racing between the wickets.
A player for all formats
RVD is now a part of all three formats and is crucial to the country’s fragile middle-order. Looking at the numbers below, it appears that he enjoys the limited-overs format, scoring at an average of 73.6 in ODIs and 34.5 in T20s, but his Test prospects appear to be bright. He may not have fared well against India in the recent Test series, but it will undoubtedly serve as a learning experience for him. In Tests, he still has a solid average of 34.6 after more than 1000 runs. He’s done well on home pitches so far, so it’ll be interesting to see how he does on sub-continental pitches.
A master of the ODI format
Van der Dussen’s ODI career record is even more astonishing, with an average that has reached absurdly high levels. Van der Dussen played his 30th One-Day International, and in that time he has batted 24 times for his country, scoring 1178 runs. All of this adds up to an ODI average of 73.62 for South Africa’s all-format middle-order specialist. No male player with 20 or more ODI innings has ever averaged more than that, and while it is a stunning statistic, van der Dussen says he doesn’t think about it much. What’s more impressive is that he’s scored the majority of his runs against top-tier opposition.
A student of the Game
When RVD first entered international cricket, he was regarded as a traditional ODI batter who takes time to settle in, as opposed to modern batters, who look to hit from the first delivery, resulting in him having a greater dot ball %. But the tides have turned, and he scores faster with minimal risk. What’s more impressive is his fall in dot percentage has had no impact on his average. He’s off to a good start in 2022, and it’ll be intriguing to see how he continues.
What future holds for him
Despite his outstanding statistics, RVD has received little attention, but if he continues to perform well, he might soon be compared to his countrymen, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. It will be difficult to fill those shoes, but the player has shown great potential.