“Change of mindset at the start”: Herschelle Gibbs differentiates between Quinton de Kock half centuries in Guwahati and Indore

Quinton de Kock half centuries: The South African wicket-keeper has ended a rut with consecutive half-centuries.

South Africa wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock has scored back-to-back half-centuries to put a lean patch behind him. With an ICC T20 World Cup to be played later this month, de Kock’s form was the need of the hour for his team.

de Kock, who had scored 68 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 95.77 this year until the second India vs South Africa T20I in Guwahati on Sunday, has since scored 137 runs at a strike rate of 150.54 across a couple of innings.

Opening the batting with captain Temba Bavuma (3) in the third T20I in Indore tonight, de Kock had to cope with another failure of his opening partner. Building on his performance from the last match, de Kock put together a 90-run second-wicket partnership alongside batter Rilee Rossouw (100*).

Had it not been for a magnificent boundary throw from India batter Shreyas Iyer, de Kock looked set to further punish the Indian bowlers. Dismissed in the 13th over, de Kock returned to the pavilion after scoring a stroke-filled 68 (43) comprising of six fours and four sixes.

Herschelle Gibbs differentiates between Quinton de Kock half centuries in Guwahati and Indore

Having batted with a strike rate of 158.13 at the Holkar Stadium on Wednesday, the 29-year old player gained former South Africa batter Herschelle Gibbs’ attention. Although not for the first time in this series, Gibbs commented on de Kock’s innings but in a positive manner.

de Kock, who had played throughout 20 overs in the previous match, had struggled for a large part of his 69* (48). Differentiating between both the innings, Gibbs pointed out a “change in mindset” from the start working in the left-handed batter’s favour in this match.

In what was de Kock’s 13th T20I half-century, it was his ninth away from home, seventh in Asia, fifth under Bavuma and in India and fourth against India.