Gqeberha – The poor run of form from Proteas T20I batter Rilee Rossouw continued in the IPL for the Delhi Capitals on Tuesday night in Ahmedabad.
The South African batter has found it tough with scores of 30, 0, 14 and 8 in the competition thus far. On Tuesday night, the Delhi Capitals took on the Gujarat Titans in Delhi, a team that is focused on defending their title this season.
Mohammad Shami made early inroads after the Capitals opted to bat first, with Rossouw batting in the top four.
Shami struck with his very first ball, and six balls later Rossouw walked into bat with Hardik Pandya at the top of his mark. Rossouw dealt with Pandya with relative ease, striking two fours in the over.
When Shami returned for his second over, the third of the match, the atmosphere changed and so did the look on the two new batters’ faces. Rossouw didn’t last the over as Shami had him caught behind for eight off six balls.
Shami accounted for two more DC batters before he finished his spell as he finished with extraordinary figures of 4/11 and took home the Player of the Match award.
Luckily, DC have experienced coaches and the likes of Ricky Ponting understand that ‘class is permanent, and form is temporary’, but time is running out for Rossouw and only a series of big scores will make him a regular in the team.
The Capitals won the match despite Shami’s efforts and the victory might keep Rossouw in the playing XI when they take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.
@imongamagcwabe
IOL Sport