INDORE: Fortunes can change in T20 cricket in a matter of a few balls, but it still takes some guts to come off successive ducks and smash a 48-ball century, something that Rilee Rossouw did to shape South Africa's 49-run win in the third T20I at the Holkar Stadium here on Tuesday night.
Rossouw's blazing show, which included as many as 8 sixes and 7 fours, could make the Protea No 3 a hot property in the IPL auction in December, but the 32-year-old, who has returned to play for SA after quitting the country for a Kolpak deal, claimed that the prospect playing in the lucrative T20 league for the first time since he turned out for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015, wasn't in his mind when he unleashed mayhem on the Indian bowlers.
"The auction is not in my control. It was not even in my mind. I was just trying to get one run tonight first. It panned out pretty well for me," said the left-hander.
In the first two T20Is, at Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati, Rossouw, going for his shots to early even as the ball was moving around, was out without opening his account to left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, but when he walked out to bat on Tuesday night, the man claimed he wasn't nervous, and still confident about his special abilities, which have seen him smash four hundreds and 42 fifties@142. 98 while notching up 6733 runs in 264 T20s.
"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. I had a chat with our assistant coach. Confidence plays a big part in scoring runs. I really believe in my ability, I have shown it throughout the world. It is never a confidence issue for me, it is just form," he said.
Naturally, he and the other South Africans are pleased to see dashing 'keeper-bat Quinton de Kock back to his best just ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
"The one shot that he swept across and hit it for six, then 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," Rossouw said.
After they lost their first five wickets in just the first 15 balls in the opening T20I-the first time it has happened in T20 cricket- the Proteas have shown a steady improvement-which finally saw them score a pride salvaging win here. Unlike India, they've chosen to play their full strength South Africa side for the three ODIs in India from now.
"In the first game, we were kind of shell shocked about how India really swung the ball. We went back to the drawing 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 to put up a performance together with both bat and ball," Rossouw said.
Rossouw ton helps South Africa beat India
He also the team was backing their out-of-form captain Temba Bavuma, who was out for dismal scores of 0, 0 & 3 in the T20 leg on this tour.
"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," Rossouw said.
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