South Africa Quite at Home, Says Quinton

 Ahmedabad: The road to Super Eights has been smooth for South Africa, who’ve had an all-win record in the Group stage. Top order batsman Quinton de Kock understandably feels the Proteas are pretty much at home.

“The team is quite settled. We’ve been in Ahmedabad for quite a while, so we’re kind of used to the environment,” he told reporters ahead of Sunday’s game against India.

Having played three of their four Group games here, de Kock said his side were in good space but India too were up there. “We’ve played a day game and a night game here, so kind of understand the conditions. It does help quite a bit but the Indian players too have played here, through IPLs and their careers, so I don’t think it makes that much of a difference at the end of the day,” he said.

The series against India preceding the World Cup too has come in handy. “I think that’s what’s going to make for quite a good game tomorrow, because we’ve played against each other quite a bit over the last two months. To be honest, the teams haven’t really changed much and everyone knows each other, how everyone plays, how everybody thinks. So I think it’s about who deals with pressure better and wins the small moments in the game,” de Kock pointed out.

Despite Abhishek Sharma’s three consecutive ducks, de Kock expressed caution about the Indian opener. “He’s the number one T20 batsman in the world at the moment according to rankings. He’s obviously quite young and is bound to fail. I’m sure at some point he’s going to play an important knock,” he said.

The South African was also wary about mystery bowler Varun Chakravarthy. “He’s a very good bowler at the moment. There’s a reason why he’s probably the number one T20 spinner in the world,” he said.

Asked if the current Indian team appears a little tougher than the one which beat South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final, Quinton said: “It’s mix and match because you guys have got some seriously talented guys. Back in that team you had Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) which was quite a deadly batting unit. The guys who replaced them are just like-for-like and bat really well. So I wouldn’t say one’s better than the other.”

With Australia out of the tournament, does he see an India-South Africa final again? “I don’t think so,” is the quick reply.

“I think the fickle nature of World Cups doesn’t allow favouritism, because at any moment of time, someone can change the game in two or three overs and win it. I wouldn’t say anyone’s really the favourite because there are some really good teams going forward now,” he explained.