South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock loves hundreds, and he makes it look easy. The 23-year-old registered five tons by his 20th ODI match before breaking India cricketer Virat Kohli’s record to reach his 10th century in 55 innings (Kohli achieved the feat in 80 innings). Recently, he smashed the first hundred of IPL-9 which helped Delhi Daredevils chase down 192, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, with five balls to spare.
The southpaw, who scored 108 off 51 balls with 15 fours and three sixes, told this newspaper about the significance of his hundreds, Zaheer Khan’s leadership qualities and the Delhi camp overall. Excerpts:
What does an IPL ton mean to you All hundreds, call it international cricket or IPL, mean a lot to me; to come out as a winning team scoring a hundred is a pleasure. This opportunity doesn’t come often.
You’ve not batted with Karun Nair (who remained unbeaten on 54) before, how did it click We told each other that we needed a partnership. The wicket was great and we wanted to bat as long as we could. We somehow managed to score above the required rate, it happens when one plays on a good wicket.
How is Zaheer Khan as a skipper How different is he from J.P. Duminy who led last season Zak is more of a bowling captain, he leads the bowling attack well. JP is an all-round skipper. He does all that he can around everybody which is natural for he is an all-rounder. But off the field, there isn’t much difference between them. People respect them and listen to them. But on field, they are two different captains.
What did Rahul Dravid bring in to the Delhi camp Apart from bringing in experience, he brought calmness, comes from his personality.
Delhi are yet to play a final. What is lacking I don’t have the recipe for that but we need to win more games. We are still trying to figure it out. Strategies are different for every team.
