IPL 2023: 3 Players Who Can Play the Role of Rassie Van Der Dussen In RR Squad

Rassie van der Dussen is an all-format player for South Africa. He is a highly regarded batter in the international circuit and is known for his consistency. The Proteas star can play a brilliant role at No.3. On his day, he can take apart any bowling group on his day. Having made his mark in the international arena, Rassie has failed to repeat the same in the toughest T20 league in the world. Which is why he was released by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2023.

Standing tall at 6 feet 2 inches, van der Dussen has the experience of playing tournaments across the world in England, Ireland, the West Indies, the Netherlands, and Canada. A naturally attacking batter, van der Dussen was bought for INR 1 crore by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022 mega auction after his brilliant run in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Rassie failed to make an impact in the IPL 2022, scoring only 22 runs in 3 games at an average of a mere 11 and a below-par strike rate of 91.67. 

After a horror season, he was released by RR. At a base price of Rs. 2 crores in the IPL 2023 auction, he went unsold. An experienced batter who can explode in the middle order and is vastly experienced in South African domestic cricket, van der Dussen couldn’t play his role to perfection. We look at  Let’s see which players will be able to play his Rassie’s role in the RR squad.

3 Players Who Can Play the Role of Rassie Van Der Dussen In RR Squad For IPL 2023

3) Joe Root

One of the finest batters of the current generation, Joe Root is a spectator’s delight. Having proved his mettle in the Test and ODI formats, the ex-England captain is yet to do the same in the T20 format. The reason is the lack of games in the 20-over format. He hasn’t played T20I cricket since May 2019. However, he continues to play The Hundred and for his county Yorkshire, not regularly but occasionally. In his T20 career, the Yorkshiremen has featured in 88 matches, scoring 2083 runs, but at a middling strike rate of 126.70.

There is no doubt about his ability, but question marks over his effectiveness as a T20 batter exist. A versatile cricketer is someone who is expected to contribute more often than not. An overseas option who can play the role of sheet anchor and has vast experience playing in international cricket, Root is a like-to-like replacement for Rassie in the RR squad. It remains to be seen whether he can make an impact if given an opportunity.

2) Sanju Samson

Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson is a special talent, a gifted cricketer, and a player who has got just a bit more time to play a shot than others. Last year, Samson scored 458 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate to close to 147. Samson has been one of the pillars of the Rajasthan batting and has been scoring runs for them for the last few seasons. Currently, Samson is in the best phase of his career and he can have a massive run-scoring season under his belt. 

Personally, Samson will also aim for another brilliant season with the bat in IPL 2023 to lead his team to an IPL title and also come back in India’s white-ball squads, especially with the ODI World Cup scheduled to be staged in India later this year. RR’s stronger opening combination and having Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag in the lower middle-order should tempt the Royals skipper to bat at 3 and that is where he might just unshackle him enough to go all out in IPL 2023. 

1) Devdutt Padikkal

RR paid a huge sum of INR 7.75 crore to acquire Devdutt Padikkal after Royal Challengers Bangalore released him (RCB) ahead of the mega auction. He scored 884 runs in 29 innings at an average of 31.57 and an SR of nearly 125 in his two seasons with RCB.

with a century and six fifties. These numbers prompted the Royals to secure him at the mega auction as they thought that the Padikkal would set the stage on fire in the last season. However, the southpaw only accumulated 376 runs in 17 games at an all-time low strike rate of about 122 and an average of 22.12. This was his worst season with the bat. His strike rate and average were below par.

It was not all his fault, the Royals’ management moved him around the batting order many times. Sometimes he was opening the batting and on other occasions, he was batting as low as number 4 on a few occasions. This season RR would want to give him a number and that number should be 3. He has got all the attributes to play the perfect number three role.