De Kock expects tight battle between SA and India at T20 World Cup
· Citizen
Their crunch match on Sunday is going to be closely contested, Proteas top-order batter Quinton de Kock has predicted, as South Africa prepare to square off against hosts India in a Super Eight game in Ahmedabad at the T20 World Cup (3.30pm start).
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India beat South Africa 3-1 in a T20 series in December, and earlier this month they defeated the Proteas in a warm-up match ahead of the World Cup.
And while India had the upper hand in most of those clashes, De Kock felt the recent fixtures between the two teams had given the SA side a good idea of what to expect.
“I think that’s what’s going to make for quite a good game this weekend because we’ve played against each other quite a bit over the last two months,” De Kock said.
“The teams haven’t really changed much, so I think it’s more about who deals with the pressure better and wins the small moments in the game.”
Not looking back
At the last edition of the T20 World Cup, South Africa lost to India in the final in Barbados, but De Kock said the national team had not discussed that defeat ahead of their battle on Sunday.
Though he took a break from international cricket after the 2024 tournament, and it was possible that loss had been discussed within the squad before he made his return last year, the experienced batter said they were not allowing it to hang over them.
“To be honest, after that day we just forgot about it. I don’t think any of us really want to speak about it,” he said.
“Everyone went home and kind of went through their own process of how to deal with it. We didn’t really talk about it as a team, and that’s pretty much it. We haven’t really spoken about it.
“I haven’t been around with the team much since then, so they probably have, but I’ve only just joined the last couple of months, so as far as I know that’s all that’s happened.”