Ken Borland

For Rassie van der Dussen, every innings is a new instalment of his career, a new situation to adapt to, and he did it to perfection at Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday as his unbeaten century led South Africa to an impressive 31-run win over India in the first ODI.

Van der Dussen came to the crease in the 18^th over when the Proteas were struggling on 68/3. Together with his captain Temba Bavuma, who was busy getting himself in and would go big in scoring a brilliant century of his own, they added a magnificent 204 off just 190 deliveries, the best ever fourth-wicket stand for South Africa against India.

Van der Dussen’s commanding 129 not out off just 96 balls means he has now scored 1178 runs in his 30 ODIs at an extraordinary average of 73.62. What marked this innings out was how fluently he played right from the start of his innings, on a slow and tricky pitch that made scoring difficult.

“The pitch was taking a bit of turn and I knew I would have to go to my sweeps and reverse-sweeps fairly early,” Van der Dussen said after his career-best ODI score. “If I let the spinners settle on a slow pitch then it would not be easy to go down the ground.

“I tried to put the pressure back on them, and Temba and I were constantly reminding each other to keep the intensity high. Always as a batsman, especially in the middle-order, I try and read the situation.

“I’m trying to make a good score that will win the match, I have no other reference. I appreciate it may look like something else for those outside. Today I knew that if I allowed the spinners to settle then they would get into a good rhythm and it would be very difficult to win.

“So I tried to reverse the pressure with low-risk boundary options. You have to be able to go to those skills whether it’s your first ball or 100^th ball,” Van der Dussen said.

South African teams have historically struggled against the turning ball and both Indian spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, have prospered against them in the past. But the way Van der Dussen and Bavuma played them on Wednesday suggests all is okay now on that front.

“Conditions in Paarl generally suit the spinners because there’s not a lot of pace,” Van der Dussen added. “But the way we’ve upskilled ourselves has allowed us to use these game-plans against spin.

“It started in the West Indies last year and then in Sri Lanka, while we knew spin would play a big role at the T20 World Cup. So it’s been a process that has been going on for more than a year.

“In the past we came short against spin, but we identified it as a weakness and credit to Mark Boucher and Justin Sammons [batting consultant] for giving us the skills to apply out there and execute in the middle,” Van der Dussen said.

Superb centuries by Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen laid the platform, but then South Africa called on all their deposits of character and composure in the field as they beat India by 31 runs in the first ODI at Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday.

Captain Bavuma, having won the toss and elected to bat, found himself at the crease in just the fifth over as a flatfooted Janneman Malan (6) was caught behind off Jasprit Bumrah.

Bavuma was patient on a tricky pitch, getting himself in, but South Africa found themselves in trouble on 68/3 when a scratchy Quinton de Kock (27) and Aiden Markram, who ran himself out for 4, were dismissed.

But enter Van der Dussen and he and Bavuma added a magnificent 204 for the fourth wicket, a record for South Africa against India, off just 190 deliveries.

Bavuma provided the solid foundation for the impressive total of 296/4, scoring a wonderfully controlled 110 off 143 balls, working the ball around the field with aplomb.

Van der Dussen, despite coming in at a tough time with ace spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal bowling on a slow pitch that made scoring difficult, was quickly off and running.

His half-century came at a run-a-ball as he played with marvellous skill and shot-selection, using sweeps to great effect.

Having reached a sublime century, Van der Dussen was able to change gears at the death, hitting four sixes and finishing on a magnificent, career-best 129 not out off 96 balls, his last 29 runs coming off just 13 deliveries.

Chasing what would have been a record score at Boland Park, Shikhar Dhawan (79) and Virat Kohli (51) laid an excellent platform as they took India to 137/1 at the halfway stage.

But Keshav Maharaj (10-0-42-1), ever the fighter, then turned a delivery sharply out of the rough to bowl Dhawan and get the Proteas back in the game. Once they had a sniff, they were relentless.

The key wicket of Kohli would come just three overs later as a change of pace from Tabraiz Shamsi (10-1-52-2) saw him toe-end a sweep to short midwicket.

Aggressive short-pitched bowling from Lungi Ngidi (10-0-64-2) then removed Shreyas (17) and Venkatesh Iyer (17), both on the hook.

The end of India’s hopes would come when De Kock pulled off an outstanding leg-side stumping off Andile Phehlukwayo (5-0-26-2) to dismiss Rishabh Pant for 16.

Shardul Thakur swung hard at the death to score 50 not out off 43 balls, but South Africa’s composure was unfailing.

South Africa have not played a completed ODI in four months but captain Temba Bavuma says his team is going to carry the momentum from their Test series win over India into the 50-over matches that start in Paarl on Wednesday.

The Proteas, fielding a second-string side, had a washed out ODI against the Netherlands at the end of November, but before that their last proper action was a 2-1 series loss to Sri Lanka in Colombo at the beginning of September.

But confidence is running high in the Proteas camp after their tremendous Test series triumph over India, in which Bavuma played a key role with his second-innings heroics.

“Momentum is a real thing and in the Wanderers Test we managed to get some,” Bavuma said on Tuesday. “So we will lean on that, although it’s obviously a different format with different skill sets and pressures.

“There’s always going to be pressure, whether we played ODI cricket last month or not. We’re coming up against a very strong outfit and hopefully that inspires us to bring our best cricket.

“We need to make sure we pitch up and do what we need to do. We played a lot of T20 cricket last year and in one-day cricket we accept that there are improvements we need to make.

“This series is the perfect opportunity, against a very strong outfit, to test ourselves and see how our game needs to improve and whether we have the right personnel because the road to the 2023 World Cup has started,” Bavuma said.

In terms of selection, the skipper said the first thing he will look for is bowling options, making it likely that part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram will play. But he will not be opening the batting.

“As captain, I always like as many bowling resources I can get on the bowling front,” Bavuma explained. “You accept that one of your bowlers is not going to hit their straps on the day, and then to have a replacement is a luxury.

“I would like as many bowling options as I can get, considering the balance of the team. But Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan have done well up front, so I don’t see a change there and I come into the picture at No.3.

“But the middle-order is where the real conversation is – do we play another all-rounder at No.6 or a specialist batsman?

“Considering the Paarl conditions – the bounce is lower and more skiddy – we need pace bowlers who can exploit that with the new ball and it’s quite friendly to the slower bowlers,” Bavuma said.

Kagiso Rabada has been released from the team for the series due to high workloads over a sustained period of time and the need for him to recover before the Test tour to New Zealand in February.

Pieter Malan showed he is obviously still one of the best opening batsmen in the country when he batted the Boland Rocks through to the safety of a draw in their CSA 4-Day Domestic Series match against Western Province in Paarl on Monday.

Malan batted through the 119 over innings to score an extremely disciplined 117 not out off 349 balls to deny Western Province on the final day. Boland, who were 177 runs behind on first innings, began the final day on 106 without loss, still trailing by 71.

But Isma-eel Gafieldien was only able to add one run to his overnight score of 60 before he was trapped lbw by left-arm paceman Wayne Parnell.

Left-arm spinner Kyle Simmonds (45-16-81-3) then really raised Western Province’s hopes for a victory with a three-wicket burst that left Boland on 178/4.

But Malan found an able partner in the in-form Ferisco Adams, who scored 50 not out as the pair stayed together for 30 overs to secure the draw with Boland closing on 269/4.

The other match that went into the fourth day, between the Northerns Titans and the KZN Dolphins at SuperSport Park, was also drawn after the final day was washed out by rain.

Northerns, trailing by nine runs on the first innings, were left on the overnight score of 125/1 in the second innings.