"We've won every series going into a World Cup" - Quinton de Kock hopes series defeat to West Indies helps South Africa win T20 WC 2024
South African keeper-batter Quinton de Kock hopes that the recent series loss against the West Indies will be a boon for them before the T20 World Cup 2024. The left-handed batter reflected that South Africa have never won the World Cup when they have clinched a series before any ICC event.
While both South Africa and West Indies had some of their key players missing, the former suffered a 3-0 defeat. The first two T20Is saw the Proteas fail to chase 176 and 208, respectively. The third and final game also went the West Indies' way as they gunned down 164 in only 13.5 overs with eight wickets to spare.
Speaking after South Africa's series loss, De Kock reflected that his experience tells him that the Proteas might benefit from this series loss in the World Cup. As quoted iol.com.za, the 31-year-old stated:
"[I don’t have any] concerns [about the result], we don’t really have a full-strength team [here]. I’m not saying it’s an excuse but I think throughout my whole international career we’ve won every series going into a World Cup and we’ve never won the World Cup. Speaking from experience, I don’t know if this will do something good for us. Hopefully, it does."
"For me it [the series defeat] doesn’t mean much. I’m just hoping some of the guys going to the World Cup get some confidence going into the tournament."
The Proteas had a good outing in the 2023 World Cup but stumbled in the semi-finals to eventual champions Australia.
Quinton de Kock's form concerning ahead of T20 World Cup 2024
The southpaw's form is a concern for the Proteas heading into the showpiece event. While he was South Africa's highest run-getter in the 2023 World Cup, he has struggled in T20 cricket of late. De Kock had scores of 4, 41, and 19 in the series against the West Indies.
The left-hander managed only 213 runs in 12 innings in SA20 this year and registered 250 runs in 11 innings, averaging 22.73 in IPL 2024.