• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Rassie Van Der Dussens 94 Becomes Highest Individual Score For A South African In T20 World Cup

Rassie van der Dussen’s 94* becomes highest individual score for a South African in T20 World Cup

Rassie van der Dussen was in the brightest of the forms as he went on to record the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup game for any South African batter, getting past Herschelle Gibbs’ unbeaten 90 which he scored in 2007. Rassie scored unbeaten 94 to take his team to 189 in 20 overs on a low and slow Sharjah track to give themselves a chance for semi-final qualification. 

Courtesy of the 32-year-old’s superb innings, which was well complemented by Aiden Markram, who hit his sixth T20I fifty, the Proteas reached 189. Now to qualify for the semi-final the green brigade must halt the England innings on or before 131. 

Asked to bat first after losing the toss, the Proteas were cautious initially as they lost Reeza Hendricks early on. But once settled, Rassie and Quinton de Kock went on the offence and added 71 runs in just 52 balls to give a launchpad for other batteries to strike from. But after de Kock’s dismissal, not many other batters were required. Markram partnered Rassie and the duo added an unbeaten 103 in just 52 balls to take their team to a total that can be defended. 

The conditions in Sharjah have changed incredibly in the second innings as the ball is getting wet right from the start due to a lot of dew. 

Discover more
Top Stories
news

T20 World Cup | With support of billion Indians, Afghanistan dare to dream against New Zealand

The buildup The ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup has thrown more surprises than anyone would have expected and it can be established by the fact that one of the firm favourites are already out of the race for the semi-finalists spot and another one are just clinging on to a glimmer of hope on the brilliance of a side who were considered a mere participant before the start of the tournament. It doesn’t happen every day that a game between two sides has more meaning for a third side that is not a party in the contest, but the game between New Zealand and Afghanistan is one such rare occurrence. When Mohammad Nabi will lead his Afghan warriors onto the field against the Blackcaps, he would surely know that they would be carrying the hopes and opportunities of a billion people from India. They would be aware of what their victory could achieve for the men in blue, but will that make them play any different? Hard to say yes to that question but it would certainly give them the freedom to put all their heart and soul into the game because they could too replace India and New Zealand if they win big. India would celebrate even a win for them, and more so a close win for them as their net run rate will make them firm favourites to go through. On the face of it, Afghanistan have triumphed more than they could have aspired to before the tournament and hence how motivated they would be and how much belief they would have in themselves to beat both New Zealand in the game and India on a net run rate basis will dictate the flow of the game. On the other hand, New Zealand are a more settled side and the world knows what they bring to the table. They have filled their batting order with swashbuckling stroke makers and all-around batsmen such as the skipper Kane Williamson to arrest unaffordable situations while batting. They have banked on their pace attack led by the experienced duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult to do the bulk of damage but their spin twins of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have not been a walkover either. Instead, they have been a force to be reckoned with and choked the Indian batting unit to the brink of early elimination from the tournament. Now, having seen all of the conditions on offer in the tournament, New Zealand should fancy their chances to advance through the semi-finals having beaten India in one of the two stiff competitions they were to deal with before the tournament had begun. However, close contests against both Scotland and Namibia for a considerable length of the games don’t make them indomitable favourites to win the game and there lies the anticipation of a contest and a big build-up for the game. Contest within contest Williamson vs Rashid A lot of the reasoning behind not making New Zealand a clear favourite is the presence of quality spinners in the Afghanistan team and the best of them all is Rashid Khan, who is quite capable of turning things on his own in a maximum of four overs. He has been held back and has been used strategically after the end of powerplay by Nabi and if the trend continues, he would have to take on Kane Williamson, who is the best batsman against spinners in the Blackcaps squad. If the Kiwis have to break the spinners' outright dominance on them, Williamson will have to be the man with the bat for the Blackcaps while Rashid has been the trump card for all the sides he plays and the story will be a lot more serious in the game. If Afghanistan have to halt New Zealand to either qualify or raise their reputation at the world stage and earn the huge wave of love from India, Rashid will have to spin a web around the Blackcaps batting unit and that can’t be made possible without eliminating the threat of Williamson. Match details New Zealand vs Afghanistan, Match no.: 40, Super 12 Group 2 Date & Time: Nov 07, 02:00 PM LOCAL, 03:30 IST Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Pitch conditions The pitches in Abu Dhabi have been quite supportive to the pace bowlers and Kagiso Rabada’s dominance over Bangladesh and Josh Hazlewood’s dominance over the West Indies batting unit shows some sort of pattern and should impart huge confidence in the New Zealand bowling unit. On the other hand, there will be no due to come as a relief for batsmen and that will give Afghanistan spinners a chance to extract the best out of the surface when the ball will be absolutely dry. Afghanistan have been an outlier in the tournament with their eagerness to bat first and defend a total except for the last game against India and the pitch conditions in Abu Dhabi and hammering they got at the hands of India should force them to go back to their tried and tested tactic. However, batting first will bring Kiwis pacers into the game and in a way, the game will be decided on how good or bad the two batting units bat against each other’s bowling unit. Team news Afghanistan Afghanistan had to field their playing XI without Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the last game against India and all including the Indian team are hoping for his return to full fitness for the big game for all three sides. Apart from him, there is no contention for places in the side and Mohammad Nabi should field a settled XI in their last game of the tournament which could also be their last game for some time at such a big stage. Probable XI Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad (WK), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (C), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Hamid Hassan. New Zealand New Zealand have no reasons whatsoever to change their performing playing XI for one final big game before the big semi-finals. They will carry on with playing the pace trio of Southee, Boult and Adam Milne and the pitch in UAE should give them plenty of hope and excitement against Afghanistan, who are not known for their abilities against high pace and quality swing. Probable XI Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (C), Devon Conway (WK), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult. CE Fantasy XI Devon Conway, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Mitchell Santner, Karim Janat, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi and Rashid Khan Captain: Kane Williamson Vice-captain: Rahmanullah Gurbaz

news

T20 World Cup | PAK vs SCO: As Pakistan target spotless Super 12, Scots would look to bow out on a high

The Pakistani team which has played phenomenally well in this tournament so far would be looking to go one better and finish the Super 12 stage and march into the semi-final with a win and remain unbeaten in the tournament. They have an easy outlet to achieve that as well as they face Scotland, the only team in the group that has not won any game so far. Scotland and Kyle Coetzer will on the other end look to finish the campaign on a high and nothing could be better than a win. But considering that the game would be played in Sharjah, a win would be a very far fetched result for the Scots. What's at stake? For Pakistan, it is much more about pride, about getting to the semis remaining unbeaten and proving to their opposition, which would most likely be Australia, that they mean business and are not to be taken lightly whatsoever. On the other hand, for Scots, everything is at stake. It’s not about just winning, but also proving to themselves that they can compete at the highest level too. It has been just one game against New Zealand where they were able to showcase their full potential. It would also be a challenge for them to play against spin and no better place than Sharjah to test themselves. They have folded very quickly against the spin of Afghanistan and India and hence showcasing some fight here would mean a lot to them. What needs to change? For Pakistan, they would like Mohammad Hafeez to get back in form before the big match in the semi-final. Also, Hasan Ali is someone that has been wayward throughout the tournament but has remained in the playing XI as the team did not want to change the winning combination. If he could come back to form then the green brigade would be firing all cylinders before the semi-finals. For Scotland, they need to change their approach towards batting and not go all bonkers even when the wickets are falling. Experienced players like Richie Berrington, skipper Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey need to stick together and play the 20 overs with confidence while the late order hitters in Michael Leask and Chris Greaves need to come to the party. Pakistan vs Scotland: Match Details Match Number - 41 Date and Time: November 07, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 06:00 pm Local, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The pitch at Sharjah would be shiny in terms of looks like it has been for quite a while now, but it would act as a facade as the wicket would be low and slow as usual and anything above the range of 150 would be hard to chase on that wicket. Weather Forecast The temperature at the stadium will fall from 29-degree Celsius at 06:00 pm to 25-degree Celsius by 10:00 pm and similarly, the humidity will increase from 41% to 53%. A light breeze is expected and there are very limited chances of precipitation as well, which is a very rare phenomenon in Sharjah. But since there would definitely be some dew, any team winning the toss would look to field first even though chasing has been a troublesome task on this wicket. Team News Pakistan The Pakistani team would not be looking to make any change as it has been evident in their last game against Namibia that they want to play with the same xi and keep doing the same stuff before going to the next stage. Probable XI Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi Scotland The only change that Scotland could afford is bringing back Josh Davey in the XI as the rest of the players are their mainstay anyways. Probable XI George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif, Bradley Wheal CE XI Fantasy team Wicketkeepers Mohammad Rizwan Batters George Munsey, Richie Berrington, Babar Azam, Asif Ali All-rounders Michael Leask, Shadab Khan Bowlers Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi Vice-Captain Shaheen Afridi Captain Babar Azam

news

T20 World Cup | AUS vs WI: David Warner demolishes West Indies bowling to etch convincing win

Australia’s clinical performance against West Indies put them in front giving the side a genuine chance for making a qualification in the semis of the T20 World Cup. Chasing 158, the Australian team rode on some fine pieces of batting from David Warner and Mitchell Marsh to go over the line by 8 wickets and in just 16.2 overs in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Australia were off to a decent start after captain Aaron Finch and Warner put 33 runs on the board for the first wicket before the skipper departed for 9 off 11. Marsh then replaced Finch in the middle and he along with Warner took on the charge and stitched a stand of 124 runs for the second wicket. Both the batsmen went on to notch up individual fifties during the course. Marsh was eventually undone by Chris Gayle after he was caught for 53 off 32 but it was too late as the Australians just needed one more run to win which they eventually did. Warner remained unbeaten at 89 off 56. Earlier, West Indies didn’t really have a good start as they lost wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 91/5 but it was captain Kieron Pollard who held the fort from one end and scored a 31-ball 44. Later, Andre Russell who had been struggling with the form also chipped in with a quick-fire 18 off 7 that included a couple of maximums to help the side put 157/7 in 20 overs. For Australia, it was Josh Hazlewood who scalped a four-wicket haul at the cost of 39 runs in 4 overs. This was the final match for the defending champions West Indies in this edition of the T20 World Cup and with the conclusion of the tournament, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has also bid adieu to international cricket and most likely it was the final game for Chris Gayle as well in West Indies colours. Australia captain Finch talked about Bravo and his contributions. “Now we have to wait for the South Africa game, We can hold our head high if it doesn't go our way. We have won four games out of five. What a super player (Dwayne Bravo). Had the pleasure of playing with him as well. What a super, super competitor,” Finch said during the post-match presentation. Pollard admitted that it was a disappointing tournament for the Caribbean side. “We could have done better with the fielding as well. Overall we weren't good enough. But for me, it's the end of a generation/era where you have some guys who have done some good things for T20 cricket, not only in the Caribbean but around the world. Sometimes one tournament you don't want to sum up the entire thing when it comes to that but rationally these guys have done pretty well for themselves and we as people are very, very proud,” Pollard said.