Rilee Rossouw

Rilee Roscoe Rossouw is a South African Cricketer who was born on October 9, 1989, in Bloemfontein. He is a left-handed batter and right-handed off-break bowler. Throughout his career, he has always been in and out of the South African cricket team. 

Rossouw is primarily a radical top-order batter and is best suited for the shortest format of the game where he has often found his groove.

Rilee Rossouw: Along the Years

Rilee Rossouw Records

• First South African batter to score a century in T20 World Cup (ICC T20 WC 2022)

• First batter from a full-member nation to register two consecutive T20I centuries

• Highest score by a South African batter in T20 World Cup history (109)

• Fourth-most half-centuries in T20s by a South African after AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock

Rilee Rossouw: Awards and Accolades

• Player of the Series in an ODI series against Australia

Rilee Rossouw Career

Rilee Rossouw has made himself a household name in franchise cricket, with him fetching big bucks for his batting exploits in the shortest format.

Rilee Rossouw Domestic Career

Rilee Rossouw made his first-class debut for Free State in November 2007. He batted at no 3 in that match and top-scored with 83. After his first season for Free State, he played in 3 T20s for the Eagles in Franchise Cricket.

He then started playing for the Eagles and in the 2008-09 season, he scored 765 runs, including 3 centuries. He was the leading run scorer for them that season. He scored his maiden first-class century against Titans in 2008 where he scored 106. In the return fixture, he again scored a blistering knock of 109 which went in vain.

Rossouw scored his first one-day century against the Warriors. He scored 131 of 108 deliveries. In the 2009-10 season, he piled up 1261 runs at an average of 57.61. He scored his highest first-class score of 319 runs in just 291 balls against Titans.

He was part of the South Africa A side that toured Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In the following 3 seasons, Rossouw averaged 40 which earned him the national team call-up.

Rilee Rossouw played for the Knights from 2010 to 2017. He played for Pakistan Super League side Quetta Gladiators in 2017. He also plays for the Khulna Tigers in Bangladesh Premier League and has scored the most runs in two different BPL seasons. In the newly-launched SA20, he represents the Pretoria Capitals.

Rossouw has scored a triple Century in a first-class match against the Titans which is the fastest among all in South Africa.

In the same match, along with Dean Elgar, he made a partnership of 480 runs for the 2nd wicket which is the highest for South Africa for all wickets.

Rilee Rossouw IPL Career

Rilee Rossouw was initially bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Royal Challengers Bengaluru) in IPL 2011 for INR 30 lakhs but did not feature in a match. Three years on, he was brought in as a replacement by RCB for Aussie opener Nic Maddinson. The South African batter played a total of 5 matches across two IPL seasons for RCB and did not have a good run, scoring 53 runs.

Rossouw marked his return to IPL after an 8-year-long hiatus as he was bought by the Delhi Capitals for INR 4.60 crores in the IPL 2023 auction after his exploits against India as well as in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Though he had a decent run with the bat, managing to score 209 runs in 9 matches at a strike rate of 148.23 with a personal best of 82*, he was released and was snaffled up by the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2024 auction for INR 8 crores. He scored 211 runs in 8 matches at an impressive strike rate of 181.90 in IPL 2024.

Rilee Rossouw International Career

Rilee Rossouw had a gradual start to his international career, but before he could establish himself, he was one among the players who signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire which made him ineligible to play for South Africa. 

Even though he had a very decent first-class record, he could not make it into the Test squad for the National team.

Rilee Rossouw ODI Career

Rilee Rossouw’s international ODI career started poorly as he scored ducks on 4 occasions out of 6 matches. He got run out in the very first ODI. He got out for a duck in the second match too. He scored his first ODI fifty in his 9th match and smashed his maiden ODI century against the West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015.

He was then selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, scoring 210 runs in 5 innings at an average of 52.50, where South Africa finished in the semi-finals. He has played 36 ODIs for South Africa scoring 1,239 runs at an average of 38.71.

Rilee Rossouw T20I Career

Rilee Rossouw made his T20I debut for South Africa against Australia in November 2014. He scored a match-winning 78 runs from 50 balls which won him the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

After a six-year-long wait, Rossouw made a comeback in South African colors in 2022 and announced himself as he scored his maiden T20I century off just 48 balls against India to salvage a complimentary victory. With his smashing return to the national side, Rossouw was included in the squad to play in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. He immediately justified his selection as he became the first South African batter to notch up a T20 World Cup century and also became the first batter from a full-member nation to register back-to-back T20I centuries.

However, Rossouw was snubbed off a spot in the squad to represent at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 due to inconsistent performances.

Rilee Rossouw Under-19 Career

Rilee Rossouw went to Grey College in Bloemfontein from where he went on to play for South African School teams. He was selected for an under-19 Test Africa against India in 2007. He also represented South Africa in the 2008 U19 World Cup in Malaysia. He scored 136 runs in 6 matches at an average of 34. South Africa reached the finals of the tournament before losing to Virat Kohli’s India.

Rilee Rossouw’s Family

Rilee Rossouw is married to Marike Jana, a psychologist by profession and the couple has a daughter named Robyn Lee Roussow and a son named Rosco Rilee Roussouw.

Rilee Rossouw’s Net Worth

As of 2024, Rilee Rossouw’s net worth is estimated to be around INR 50 crores or USD 4 million.

Rilee Rossouw’s House

Rilee Rossouw resides in a lavish house in his hometown of Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Rilee Rossouw’s Cars

Rilee Rossouw owns a collection of BMW M5, Audi R8, and Mercedes-Benz SLS-AMG.