Rassie van der Dussen says batting out of position may have influenced his seven-month absence from South Africa’s T20I squad.
England batsman Liam Livingstone this week claimed he was given a role that wasted his potential, which contributed to him not featuring in white-ball cricket for England for a year.
On X, Proteas spinner Tabrazi Shamsi said he related to Livingstone’s revelation that players did not get proper communication from the ECB or coach Brendon McCullum.
MORE: Livingstone slams ‘uncaring’ England
SportsBoom.co.za recalled the last conversation it had with Van der Dussen, during the early stages of the recent T20 World Cup.
The Proteas batsman mentioned that he, too, felt that he had not batted in his ideal position in the seven T20Is he played last year in the build-up to the World Cup – five during a Tri-Nations series in Zimbabwe in July, where he was captain, and two in Australia in August.
After that, Van der Dussen was dropped, missing out on tours to England, Namibia, Pakistan, India and the inbound tour of the West Indies just before the World Cup.
In Australia, the 37-year-old batted at six in two games, which he felt played a role in his World Cup squad exclusion.
Van der Dussen also missed out on the current series in New Zealand, despite the Proteas resting almost all of the players who featured at the World Cup.
“In my situation, in the last handful of T20s [that he played], I don’t feel that I’ve been played in my position in the national side. I’m based in the top three. I think everyone knows that,” Van der Dussen told SportsBoom.co.za.
“In Zim, for example, I opened the batting, which was fine, and then batted four one game, and then batted five one game. In Australia, I batted six in one game. So, that was frustrating. I’m always a team-first guy, so I didn’t mind playing those roles at all. But it is frustrating.
“I’m not sitting here complaining or anything. It is what it is. Sometimes a coach is going to back certain guys, and a selector is going to back certain guys and not pick some guys, and that’s fine. That’s how cricket works.”
Photo: Nokwanda Zondi/BackpagePix
