Rassie van der Dussen played only three games in the IPL this season but still credited the T20 tournament for his match-winning knock against India on Thursday.

Rassie’s unbeaten 75 off 46 balls helped South Africa chase down a 212-run target in New Delhi in the first game of the five-match series.

“Definitely (IPL has helped)… I watched a lot of IPL games, did not get much of an opportunity to play, but I had a pretty good idea what their (India) bowlers would do and the conditions,” Rassie, who represented Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, said at the post-match media conference.

“Indian conditions are different to what we have in South Africa. I spent two months here, been in the heat, so had acclimatised to that and that goes for everyone.

“We had a lot of guys in the IPL this year and that’s helped us in the first game to adapt quicker,” he added.

Besides Rassie, David Miller (64 not out) was the other architect of the Proteas win. Miller had a superb season for IPL winners Gujarat Titans.

‘Floater’ tip from Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting thinks Rishabh Pant can be best utilised as a “floater” during the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia later this year. “He (Pant) is a wonderful player and he’ll be exceptionally dangerous for India, especially on the wickets we’ll provide in Australia. He’ll be one of the players to watch out (for) in the tournament (T20 World Cup) for sure,” Ponting, who has coached Pant at Delhi Capitals, said on the ‘ICC Review’.About the wicketkeeper’s batting position, the former Australia captain said: “I reckon having him as a floater… I’ll probably have him listed at (number) five in the (Indian) batting line-up. But in certain situations, where there are seven-eight overs to go and they are one-two down, then I will look at sending him in and giving as much time as possible.”