As ICC released its new ODI rankings for men on July 20, Rassie van der Dussen became the talk of the town for all the right reasons. The South African batter recently scored a 134 run knock off 117 balls, helping his side to a massive 333/5 against England in the first match of the ODI series. Less than a week later, the 33-year-old surpassed Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock to the third spot of the ODI rankings, his career-best till now.

While South Africa has a rich tradition of producing world class batters, Rassie van der Dussen has always stayed behind the curtains till now in his career. The right hand batter has played less than 50 matches for his country in all three formats, but has now cemented his spot in the team, bringing the question to the fore who he is. 

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Born on February 7, 1989 in Pretoria, South Africa, van der Dussen plays for Highveld Lions in domestic circles. In 2019, he was named as the International Men’s Newcomer of the Year, which resulted in him earning a central contract for the 2019-20 season by Cricket South Africa.

However, he first came under the limelight while playing for Cape Town Knight Riders in the inaugural season of the T20 Global League, before it was postponed and cancelled in the next year.

He was the highest scorer in the 2017-18 Sunfoil Series, amassing 959 runs in only 10 matches. The batter continued his impressive form in the next season as well, scoring 348 runs in the CSA T20 Challenge Tournament. 

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Soon after, van der Dussen made his T20I debut for South Africa on October 9, 2018 against Zimbabwe. Less than six months later, he was selected for South Africa’s ODI series against Pakistan, where he made his debut in January, 2019.

Van der Dussen was on his way to score a maiden ODI ton, when he came up short for only seven runs before he was dismissed at 93. However, three days later, an unbeaten 80 made his case more bold to the selectors as he finished the series with 241 runs across five matches.

He was retained in the squad for facing Sri Lanka later in 2019 and followed up by being selected in the squad for the 2019 ICC World Cup.

Van der Dussen made his Test debut in December 2019, against England. He was soon handed a national contract by Cricket South Africa, following his impressive performances.

After the COVID-19 pandemic’s initial scare in 2020, van der Dussen returned to the fold in April 2021 against Pakistan and scored his maiden ODI century. The maiden ton also helped him become the oldest South African player to score a century in an ODI match. Later, he would go on to be inducted in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year for 2021.

Van der Dussen’s career graph is rising upwards and there is no telling when he might stop.