“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.

Only thing that changed with quinny today compared to 2 days ago,was change of mindset at the start.both are absolute roads they playing on.

— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) October 4, 2022

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.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More