South Africa batter Rilee Rossouw who smashed his maiden T20I century in 3rd T20I vs India says finding form is only a matter of time as long as one remains confident about their abilities.
Rilee Rossouw on his Maiden T20I Century
Though Rossouw failed to score in the first two matches of the South Africa tour of India 2022, he bagged an impressive century in the last T20I and helped South Africa from being whitewashed in the three-match T20I series.
Rossouw has played 36 ODI and 21 T20Is and scored 1239 and 558 runs which include 3 centuries in ODI and 1 century in T20I.
“As a professional sportsman you are going to have bad times. It is just about backing yourself having the confidence in your ability no matter what type of form you are in. Had a chat with our assistant coach. Confidence plays a big part in scoring runs,” Rossouw said at the post-match press conference.
“I really believe in my ability, I have shown it through out the world. It is never a confidence issue for me, it is just form,” he added.
Rossouw last played in the IPL in 2015 and his special knock with an unbeaten century will surely attract the franchise during the IPL 2023 Auction.
“The auction is not in my control. It was not even on my mind. I was just trying to get one run tonight first. It panned out pretty well for me,” said the left hander on a lighter note.
Rossouw praises Quinton de Kock
He also said that it was nice to see Quinton de Kock bat at his best ahead of the T20 World Cup.
“The one shot that he swept across and hit it for six…it felt like tonight it was going to be something special. Great to see him in such fine form right before the T20 world cup.” A full strength South Africa next play three ODIs against a second string India.
Asked about the learnings from the three T20s in India, Rossouw said: “In the first game, we were kind of shell shocked about how India really swung the ball. We went back to the drawing the board and thought about how we are going to approach the next two games.
“In the second game we learnt more and tonight we were able put up a performance together with both bat and ball.” He also said the team has a blueprint ready on how to play in drastically different conditions in the World Cup in Australia but did not reveal much on the subject.
Skipper Temba Bavuma is in the middle of a lean run and pressure is mounting on him with each failure. Rossouw said the team is fully behind its leader.
“I don’t think it affects the team. We spoke about it. If someone is going to have a good day, they can carry weight off someone who is not in great form. It takes one knock and Temba can in the form of his life going into the world cup.
“We need to be there for him as a team. Every professional goes through this and it is about backing him, his ability. His captaincy has been really good,” he added.
South Africa will head to the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 tournament scheduled to play in Australia from October 16. South Africa will play their first match of the tournament against the winner of group B on October 24 in Bellerive Oval, Hobart.
First T20I series win for India against South Africa at home
- Lost 2-0 in 2015
- Drew 1-1 in 2019
- Drew 2-2 in 2022
- Won 2-1 in 2022
