De Kock set the tone for South Africa, posting 213\/4 with clean hitting at the top and dazzling shots hit square of the wicket through the leg-side. His 46-ball 90 was laced with five fours and seven sixes, apart from sharing an 83-run stand with Aiden Markram for the second wicket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on; it\u2019s just happening. I guess that\u2019s the thing, when I do get going, I try to make it count. That\u2019s pretty much what it is, literally. Look, I just think it\u2019s because we play each other so many times. We always play on good wickets, especially here back home. That\u2019s literally what it boils down to at the end of the day,\" said de Kock after getting the Player of the Match award.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cLook, the guy (Arshdeep Singh) got me out plenty of times, that I know for sure. And it always seems to be the same way. So I think it was just a technical thing I needed to be aware of, and after that, it would sort of play out naturally. That\u2019s pretty much all it boils down to,\" he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He also went on to highlight the contrasting conditions across the two innings. \u201cI think the wicket was a bit slow up front, felt like it took some time to get to the bat. When we were batting, any new batsman would find it a bit harder to come in. The ball didn\u2019t feel like it was wet; it still felt dry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSo it was just a matter of myself and Aiden (Markram) and me holding on and trying to build a partnership, because it wasn\u2019t going to be easy for the next guy walking in. When the Indian team batted, it went the other way.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt got two-paced with a bit more pace in it, it quickened up, and everything moved around at pace. When we batted, it moved around quite slowly. So that\u2019s really the difference between the conditions in the two innings,\u201d he elaborated.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pacer Ottniel Baartman, who finished with four wickets, including three scalps coming in the 19th over, credited the early breakthroughs by Jansen and Ngidi for allowing him to be more attacking later with the ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cNothing too fancy. I reckon the two frontline seamers set the tone for us up front and just allowed me to come in and do my thing. We acknowledged that there was something in the surface, so it was about keeping the ball on the surface and hopefully getting some purchase off the wicket.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pacer Ottniel Baartman, who finished with four wickets, including three scalps coming in the 19th over, credited the early breakthroughs by Jansen and Ngidi for allowing him to be more attacking later with the ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Explaining his approach and the training behind it, Baartman said, \u201cThe training camps are quick and fast, so you need to be warm all the time. Whenever the captain calls upon you, you have to be ready. When they set the tone the way they did, when you have teams three or four down in the Power-play, it\u2019s difficult for them to come back from that. That just allows the backup bowlers to do their thing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n