1st T20I: Rassie van der Dussen credits IPL for South Africa's win over India

Rassie van der Dussen said the experience of South African players in the IPL helped them defeat India by seven wickets in the first Twenty20 international on Thursday. Van der Dussen (75) and David Miller (64) put on 131 for the fourth wicket to drive the team's chase of 212 in 19.1 overs and lead the five-match series 1-0 in New Delhi. South Africa achieved their highest T20 run chase to end India's bid to register a record 13th successive win in the format.

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For the first 30 overs of the first T20I, Rishabh Pant would have believed that his first game as India captain was a perfect one. Then David Miller happened. Needing 126 runs in 10 overs to chase down the 212-run target set by India, Miller and Rassie van der Dussen finished with an unbeaten

The win comes nearly two weeks after the end of the Indian Premier League which had over 10 Proteas players, including the title-winning Miller in the popular T20 tournament. Van der Dussen played just three matches for Rajasthan Royals this edition but Miller remained key for Gujarat Titans' triumph in their debut season with 481 runs in 16 innings. "Myself having watched a lot of IPL games, having not got much of an opportunity to play, (I) had a pretty good idea what their bowlers would do and the conditions (at hand)," Van der Dussen told reporters. "I spent two month here, been in the conditions, been in the heat, so had acclimatised to that and that goes to everyone. We had a lot of guys in the IPL this year and that's helped us in the first game to adapt quicker and get over the line."

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