IPL 2021: “Feels good to score some runs again, especially in a winning cause” - Quinton de Kock
Mumbai Indians (MI) wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock has said that he is happy to be back among the runs after scoring an unbeaten half-century to see his team home against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Thursday.
Quinton de Kock was the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 70 off 50 balls as MI trounced RR by seven wickets in Delhi to return to winning ways in the tournament. Set to chase 172 for victory, MI hauled themselves past the finish line in 18.3 overs as RR’s bowlers could not make an impact on Quinton de Kock.
The left-hander’s half-century on Thursday brought an end to his lean run in IPL 2021. Before his match-winning innings against RR, Quinton de Kock registered scores of 2, 40, 2 and 3 in his four previous outings in the tournament. Speaking at a virtual press conference after MI's win, Quinton de Kock said:
“It feels good to score some runs again, especially in a winning cause. Get the team over the line. Obviously the hub of everyone around me - Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), Rohit (Sharma) at the start, the two KPs (Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard) towards the end, it was a big help. Good all-round batting effort. So yeah, proud of the guys."
The South African player admitted that conditions in Delhi were easier to bat in as opposed to Chennai. Quinton de Kock observed in this regard:
“Obviously, was a little bit easier to bat out here. But it was nice to get the job done. Was quite pleasant, and we are just happy to win the match against Rajasthan.”
As a batting unit, we know we have to step it up now: Quinton de Kock
With MI’s batting floundering in the last few games, Quinton de Kock said that there was a specific team talk about the batters stepping up. Quinton de Kock elaborated:
“We spoke about it; as a batting unit we know we have to step it up now. We know it's important for our batting line-up to start scoring big runs and start helping out our bowlers, so glad we got over the line."
Quinton de Kock further said in this regard:
"I think just genuinely with our team, we are trying that one of our top-four batters stays till the end. We did that today, honestly, moving from Chennai to Delhi has helped a bit, so I am sure there will be a lot more fireworks from our guys to come."
Batting first after losing the toss. RR posted 171 for 4 on the board as Rahul Chahar (2 for 33) and Jasprit Bumrah (1 for 15) starred with the ball for MI. Quinton de Kock then guided the defending champions home, aided by some fireworks from Krunal Pandya (39 off 26).