The South African batter Rassie van der Dussen revealed that they ultimately gained an upper hand after his spat with the Indian wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant during India’s second innings in the Johannesburg Test. He was seen having banter with Pant at the Wanderers.
Pant did reciprocate and then went for a big shot, which resulted in him just edging the ball behind to the wicketkeeper. It was just the 3rd delivery that the Indian wicketkeeper faced and was out for a duck.
"It was a moment of me asking Rishabh (Pant) a few questions. Maybe he didn't enjoy it too much. I'm not sure why. But there was certainly no hostility from my end. Maybe the way he took it - offense is taken and not given," van der Dussen told ESPNCricinfo.
"I was at a nice position at short leg. I had access to him in that sense. And I could ask him a few questions. There was never any hostility. And from there, it just sort of blew up. When I went out to bat, they reciprocated quite nicely. It's part of the game. It's Test cricket. It's tough out there, and everyone's trying to level basically to gain an inch."
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"I don't know if he would have played that shot if I wasn't there or if I didn't say anything. I know by nature he is that sort of player. In hindsight, it actually worked out very well for us, because I think that was a massive moment in the Test series for sure," he said.
Team India lost the 2nd and the 3rd Test against South Africa by 7 wickets each. Van der Dussen mentioned that he enjoys having banter with the opposition team players.
"I enjoyed it. By nature, I am quite competitive. Growing up in a club cricket system in Pretoria, which is very hostile in terms of verbals, I've never been one to shy away from a bit of banter. The Indians called it sledging. I would never call it that.
These days with cameras and stump mics, we don't really know what sledging is but I did enjoy it. I'm always the type of guy - I play hard on the field. I'm obviously never going to be personal," he said.
