De Kock reminded us why he is such valuable player, says Bavuma
Jan 21, 2022
Paarl [South Africa], January 21 : South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma lavished praises for wicketkeeper batter Quinton De Kock for his breakthrough knock which helped the Proteas defeat India in the second ODI on Friday.
De Kock (78) and Janneman Malan (91) rose to the occasion with the bat as South Africa defeated India by seven wickets in the second ODI to gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. For South Africa, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram remained unbeaten on 37 each.
"Very happy. We wanted to win the series and weren't really expecting it to do after the 2 games. Lot of positives to take from our performances. Great to have him (QDK) in the side and he reminded us again why he is such a valuable player for us. As a team we have a lot of self-belief and confidence in our ability. We are not a team that prides itself on having superstars or relying on individual performances. We really try and put in a team effort. Coming into this series from the Test side, no-one had much faith in us and that gave us a lot of motivation," said Bavuma at the post-match presentation.
"The performances in the last month have been really good. Spinners have done a splendid job. It's a great thing. We pride ourselves on fast bowlers, but to see the spin bowlers winning the game for us that really makes us a side to reckon against. I enjoy captaincy and I enjoyed it since domestic cricket. I see it to something to forget about myself and try and see how I can inspire the other guys in the team. 3-0 sounds a lot better than 2-1," he added.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul played knocks of 85 and 55 respectively as India posted 287/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Shardul Thakur and Ravichandran Ashwin also played handy unbeaten innings of 40 and 25 respectively. For the Proteas, Tabraiz Shamsi returned with two wickets.
The third and final ODI will be played on Sunday in Cape Town.
