South Africa’s Quinton de Kock plays the shot (PTI Photo) Ahmedabad: Quinton de Kock turned up at the pre-match press conference with a nonchalant attitude. The answers were brief, bordering on dismissive. This is the new De Kock, who returned to international cricket two months ago after a gap of 18 months since losing to India in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup. In a way, de Kock portrays the resurgent South African cricketing culture of the past two years. By winning the title of the World Test Championship last year, they got rid of the silencer brand. “After the game, we didn’t talk about that T20 final. We went back to our homes and dealt with it in our own way. I don’t know if others talked about it when I was away. But I haven’t since I rejoined the team,” was De Kock’s terse response to the mention of the 2024 final.
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Did winning the WTC help them move on from being called chokers? “I wasn’t part of it. I didn’t even watch the match because I was in the US playing in the league and they don’t have these matches on TV there. It wasn’t even discussed since I joined,” claimed the goalkeeper. South African cricket has often been criticized for complicating things. Under Aiden Markram, the chief architect of WTC’s final victory against Australia at Lord’s last June, they took a different approach. Markram, to begin with, has found clarity as a T20 batsman when opening the batting. De Kock, India’s nemesis since the start of his career in 2013, just clicked and Markram joined at the top of the order. “We never opened. Aiden had different situations all the time, so he always had to adapt. There’s basically one thing an opener does. He’s easier to deal with that too. He’s probably got the clarity he had as an opener,” reckoned De Kock. It is clear that this South African team does not want to dwell on the past. De Kock doesn’t even want to talk about his dreadful record against India. He just dismisses it as playing on good surfaces. This team has found the momentum and nurture to challenge India’s title as World T20 champions.
