MATCH STORIES
Follow UsQuinton de Kock, since making his international debut in 2012, has rightly and deservedly earned the reputation of being one of the best wicketkeepers in world cricket.
Since his debut, de Kock has inflicted 560 dismissals in total, which is 90 more than any other wicketkeeper during this period. He is the only gloveman in world cricket to have inflicted more than 100 dismissals in T20Is.
But the 31-year-old also has another side to him, which is being a masterful deceiver.
His ability to deceive opponents with his body language has resulted in the downfall of many batters in the past. Most famously, Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman missed out on a double century in an ODI in Johannesburg in 2021 after falling prey to de Kock’s antics.
On that occasion, Fakhar was running a double to the wicketkeeper’s end but de Kock, through his body language, convinced the batter that the throw was going to the non-striker’s end, which led to the left-hander running lazily. The bluff ultimately cost Fakhar his wicket.
On June 29 (Saturday) in Barbados, in the T20 World Cup final, de Kock’s deception led to South Africa poaching one of the most important wickets in their history.
At 47* off 31, Axar Patel was batting like a dream after being promoted to No.5. India lost three wickets in the powerplay - all big ones, that of Rohit, Pant and SKY - but were still flying at 106/3 after 13.2 overs. With Axar in the zone and Virat Kohli still in the middle, 180 did not look out of reach.
Enter de Kock with his deception.
On the third ball of the 14th over, Kohli mistimed an attempted pull shot that ended up rolling towards the wicketkeeper after hitting his thigh pad. Kohli took off for a single initially but then turned back quickly. Axar, meanwhile, had run halfway up the pitch in the hope of stealing a single.
De Kock got to the ball relatively quickly, but he still had a lot to do. He effectively had to fire in a perfect throw. Even if he did, Axar might have ended up reaching the crease if he had committed.
This is where things perfectly fell into place for South Africa. Axar, after looking at de Kock’s body language, was somehow convinced that the wicketkeeper was not going to throw at his end, due to which he was super lackadaisical. The all-rounder took an eternity to turn back, not expecting the throw.
But de Kock quickly dialed in and fired in a rocket direct hit at the non-striker’s end. The throw caught the seemingly lazy Axar off guard; the left-hander was scrambling to get back.
The ball ricocheted off the stumps and went to the boundary, but South Africa were unbothered by the extras. Instead, they were confident that Axar had been dismissed.
The Proteas’ intuition proved right. To India’s utter dismay, Axar was caught short of his crease.
You can watch the video of the run-out here
The left-hander’s dream knock ended in grueling fashion, and it was de Kock’s moment of brilliance - or, rather, deception - that was responsible for the same.
