South Africa wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock opened up about the motivation behind his comeback to One-Day International cricket. The veteran cricketer said that the time away from cricket gave him the hunger to perform, something he had lost before his retirement.
Quinton de Kock had called time on his ODI career after the 2023 Cricket World Cup. The wicketkeeper-batter already retired from Tests in 2021. But the veteran stumper reversed his retirement decision and is now a part of the Proteas Men’s white-ball squad.
Quinton de Kock Explains Why He Returned to Cricket After Retiring
In the second IND vs SA T20I clash, Quinton de Kock emerged as the standout performer with a solid 90 off 46, putting the Proteas Men in the driver’s seat.
The veteran stumper’s blazing knock helped South Africa post 213 on the scoreboard.
Quinton de Kock expressed that he wasn’t feeling the challenge when he retired from ODI cricket. But as the veteran returns to the Proteas fold, he has a renewed energy and also thinks that he can play for much longer than he had thought.
“I think prior to my retirement, I was losing my hunger to win games for this team, specifically for the Proteas. And that time away just brought back my hunger. I was telling the guys that I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way.
“I think over time that I was getting sick of it because I was looking for a new challenge, and I wasn’t getting it. Now coming back, I feel like this is actually what I missed. As everyone knows, you never know what you have until you’ve lost it. So that’s kind of now coming back, where that renewed energy, where I feel I can play much longer than what I thought previously,” Quinton de Kock said, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
South Africa Level T20I series 1-1 Following Standout Performance In 2nd Match
Team India encountered significant challenges as bowlers put up an expensive spell in the contest. It turns out that the decision taken during the toss did not work in the hosts’ favour.
Following the bowlers’ strained outing, the Indian batters also encountered hard challenges while facing the Proteas Men.
The Men in Blue’s openers failed to spark once again, and the top order collapsed vehemently. Captain Suryakumar Yadav also failed to light a fire with his batting.
Tilak Varma displayed a resilient performance, scoring a 32-ball 62. Hardik Pandya put up 20 runs, while wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma scored 27.
South Africa’s Ottneil Bartman triggered a lower-order collapse as the batters fell like dominoes. The hosts were bowled out at 162, and SA pulled off a 51-run victory to level the series 1-1.