Rilee Rossouw is one of South AFrica's best batters against spin bowling as evident in his last two centuries that have come against Bangladesh and India, two teams that have strong spinners in white ball cricket.
The South African batsman says playing three years in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has helped improve his batting against spin bowling.On Thursday, Rossouw struck a brilliant century the first by a South African in T20 World Cup as the Proteas thrashed Bangladesh by 104 runs in a Super 12 stage match in ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) here.
Rossouw hammered 109 off 56 deliveries and raised 163 runs for the second wicket with opener Quinton de Kock (63) as South Africa reached 205/5 in their 20 overs. Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi (3/20) then got into the act, sharing seven wickets between them as Bangladesh were shot out for 101 in 16.3 overs, slumping to a big defeat.
During his three years in Bangladesh Premier League, Rossouw was one of the most successful batters and said it helped him do well on Thursday."I think that definitely does help. I was there for, what, three years, if I remember correctly, and for two of them I was the leading run-scorer.
I played against a lot of the boys back home and with a lot of them. So I wasn't too unfamiliar with what was to be expected out there. I would say, yes, that definitely helped me in today's match," Rossouw said in the post-match press
"I think it's (playing against spin bowling) somewhere I've definitely proved because I've played a lot of cricket in the sub-continent, Pakistan as well, Bangladesh, even in Dubai. So I have improved my game a lot over these last couple of years.
I feel more comfortable now than what I used to maybe when I was in my 20s," he added.Rossouw said playing against Bangladesh bowling was quite tough."I thought the new ball bowlers of Bangladesh bowled well.
I think Taskin (Ahmad), in the first over, got the ball to shape. He bowled nicely upfront to Temba. And also when Mustafizur comes on. Fizz is world-class, he's definitely one of the threat bowlers that we need to just try and play as we see it.
"And then today where I thought we did really well was we took on the spin, especially with Mehidy and Afif (Hossain) that bowled. Afif, is that right? And we really took charge and wanted to control that area and we did well." said the South African batter.
Rossouw said his century against India in a one-dayer was a bit more special than his effort on Thursday."I would say the one against India was probably a lot more special not a lot more, but more special. It's difficult to say which one is more special.
I think they both really are close to my heart. Today just on the main stage at the World Cup probably also it's tough to call which one is more special, but, like I said, very tough today."