CENTURION (SA): Quinton de Kock had just smashed an unbeaten 79 from 41 balls, helping Sunrisers Eastern Cape beat Pretoria Capitals by ten wickets in front of his domestic home ground at Centurion. A 177-run stand with Jonny Bairstow, where the two free-flowing batters secured a bonus point for Sunrisers — including the Englishman smashing 34 runs in an over off Keshav Maharaj (five sixes and a four) — and De Kock was at the centre of it all.
He finished the Player of the Match engagements, then came the interactions with SA20 and the franchise for which he plays. By the time he came along to address the select media interaction along the boundary ropes of the Super Sport Park, the 33-year-old may have run out of words to say. At least it seemed so as De Kock tried to explain the dynamic between him and Bairstow in the middle. “Really, all he just asked me, if it's swinging or not, so then... You be you, and me be me, type thing, and we just bat. So, there's literally nothing to it,” he said.
As the interaction went on, questions inevitably turned towards him coming out of retirement and preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. De Kock said that he did not work on anything specific, but just a mindset change to get ready for the international stage.
With 205 runs in four innings, De Kock hasn’t missed a beat in the ongoing SA20, but he felt it would make no difference when he lands in India for the global event. “I have seen guys through my whole career, guys who have no form, rock up to World Cups and score the most runs. I have seen guys with form come to World Cups and score no runs. So, it honestly means nothing.
“World Cups are a different fish. The pressures are way different. Especially when you're going to be in India, the crowds are going to be big, noisy. So, it's very, totally different. World Cups are a different game compared to the rest of world cricket,” he said.
The keeper-batter, who is a regular in the IPL and is now set to play for the Mumbai Indians again this year, felt all the past tours would help him in terms of sharing his experience with the younger players in the World Cup squad.
“Honestly, for myself, it doesn't matter where I have toured. Now, just before, or two years ago, I've been coming to India for how many years now? Multiple times. So, honestly, if I don't know the conditions by now, then I haven't been doing something right. The only thing I can really do is go into the World Cup and share my knowledge of India with youngsters, guys who haven't played at certain grounds. That's pretty much it,” he signed off.
Brief scores: PC 176/7 in 20 ovs (Connor Esterhuizen 52, Sherfane Rutherford 47 n.o; Anrich Nortje 3/32) lost to SEC 177/0 in 14.2 ovs (De Kock 79 n.o, Bairstow 85 n.o).
