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De Kock masterclass leads another South African carnage
Quinton de Kock slammed his third century of the 2023 ODI World Cup as South Africa piled on another mammoth score in their fixture against Bangladesh in Mumbai on Tuesday (October 24). De Kock ended with the second highest World Cup score by a South African batter while Heinrich Klaasen was at his brutal best as well to give the Proteas a whopping finish to the innings. A mind boggling 217 runs came off the last 20 overs of which 144 came in the last 60 deliveries.
Opting to bat, South Africa had a tentative start with the early loss of Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen in the first PowerPlay. Bangladesh came out with intent both with the ball and in the field, which meant that it wasn’t easy going in the opening hour or so. However, de Kock and skipper Aiden Markram assessed the situation quite well and went about their job in steady fashion, fully knowing that the Wankhede Stadium is a ground where you can catch up later on. The new ball nipped just a bit and Shoriful Islam made good early use of it to castle Hendricks while van der Dussen played the wrong line against Mehidy Hasan to be trapped LBW.
The in-form de Kock was on song from the get-go and Markram too joined in after a slow start to his innings. As the partnership grew, pressure started to mount on Bangladesh’s bowlers who had no idea on how to stop the run flow. Eventually, skipper Shakib Al Hasan broke the partnership when Markram mistimed a loft down long-off’s throat. But by then, the platform had been laid for the likes of Klaasen to do his thing in the middle. Fresh from his unreal assault against England a few days ago, Klaasen smashed the second ball that he faced off spin for a six and there was no looking back for him. It also ensured that de Kock could smoothly get to his third century of the tournament.
Once he got his ton, de Kock went up a few gears in his onslaught although he was clearly starting to tire with the heat and humidity. It didn’t affect his gameplay though, and Bangladesh’s bowlers were sent on a leather hunt from both sides. Given that de Kock and Klaasen are very different kinds of stroke makers, Shakib could do very little to put a lid on the scoring rate. The conditions at Wankhede also aided boundary-hitting and it just meant that Bangladesh’s bowlers had no real margin for error. To be fair to them, they were very good in the field but the bowling wasn’t consistent enough, particularly at the back end.
By the time de Kock fell, the stage had been set for David Miller to put the final touches to the innings and he duly did that with a rollicking 14-ball 34. Klaasen kept going at his typical rate at the other end and wasn’t far away from smashing successive centuries but a slower bouncer had him mistiming an upper cut to deep backward point. He may not have got the milestone but it was another severely damaging innings from Klaasen who is arguably the most destructive middle order batter at the moment.
Brief scores:
South Africa 382/5 in 50 overs (Quinton de Kock 174, Heinrich Klaasen 90, Aiden Markram 60, David Miller 34*; Hasan Mahmud 2-67) vs Bangladesh
(Cricbuzz)
[Cricbuzz]
Why did David Miller refuse a single off the penultimate delivery with Delhi Capitals needing 2 off 2? It’ll be spoken of for a while, but not inside the Gujarat Titans change room. Because Prasidh Krishna bowled a nerveless slower bouncer off the final delivery that Miller missed, and Jos Buttler then nailed a direct hit with an underarm throw from behind the stumps to run out Kuldeep Yadav, clinching a dramatic first win for GT in IPL 2026.
Despite being adjudged run out on the field, Miller wasn’t in the mood to concede defeat, and reviewed the final ball for a possible wide. But when replays confirmed what he had perhaps known, he was crestfallen. Equally distraught in the dugout was K L Rahul, whose 52-ball 92 set the game up for DC but for one run.
It was GT’s first win of the tournament and the first loss for DC after starting the campaign with two wins in a row.
Thirty-six needed off 12. A bruised finger that didn’t make it easy for him to grip the bat had forced Miller to retire hurt with DC needing 81 off 42. But when Tristan Stubbs was run-out in the 17th over, Miller returned hoping to play second fiddle to Rahul. Instead, he was now expected to deliver a box-office hit with Rahul nicking behind off a full Mohammed Siraj delivery two balls later.
Miller nearly delivered what was expected, as he went 6, 4, 6 off Siraj, repeatedly peppering the short leg-side boundary. At the other end, Vipraj Nigam also ramped four off a short delivery to bring the equation down to a manageable 13 off the final over.
Prasidh was tasked to bowl the final over. His three overs prior to that had been walloped for 41; Rahul, his state mate, had climbed into him earlier in the night. But all that would’ve been forgiven if Prasidh delivered a gun final over. That GT could only have four fielders out due to a slow over rate added to his challenge. And he nearly succumbed.
Nigam made room and swung cleanly to hit the first ball to the long-off fence, but a rush of blood had him swipe the second delivery to Shubman Gill at mid-off. With DC now needing nine off four, Kuldeep gently deflected his first ball to deep third to leave the chase in Miller’s hands.
With the equation down to 8 off 3, Prasidh bowled a slot-ball that Miller walloped over long-off. But with two needed, Miller inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. He couldn’t connect on the final ball, and Prasidh belted a roar. GT had pulled one from under DC’s rug in dramatic circumstances.
After scores of 1 and 0 in his first two games, Rahul announced himself with a 29-ball half-century that was as pleasing as they come for large parts. It was also one that didn’t have the baggage of him playing run-accumulator, like he has tended to in the past while opening the batting. This Rahul was fun, free and fearless and he helped DC overcome a few roadblocks along the way, like when they lost two wickets in two deliveries to Rashid Khan at the halfway mark.
Rahul was particularly menacing against the fast bowlers, and it began with a wristy flick that he sent way back over deep square off Kagiso Rabada. The early jitters out of the way – if he even had some inkling of them – he batted like a man possessed, fearlessly climbing into length balls from Prasidh over cover, and slapping disdainfully over point.
He is good, but where is the Rashid of old, they asked. Turns out he hadn’t gone anywhere. After he conceded just nine in his first two with DC rampant, he returned to dismiss Nitish Rana in his dramatic third over, the 10th of the innings. Having been given out lbw earlier, only for Rana to overturn the decision through DRS, he was out a few balls later when he miscued a googly to Sai Sudharsan at long-off. This was Rana’s third sub-20 score of the season.
This brought the in-form Sameer Rizvi to the middle, and he lasted all of one delivery as Rashid snuck through his inside-edge with a ripping googly to briefly elicit jitters in the DC camp. This is when Miller entered, before briefly exiting with seven overs left. But in the same over, when Rashid had Axar Patel slice one to Glenn Phillips running back from cover, GT started to have an opening.
On any other night, Rashid’s spell would have cracked open the game. The fact that DC were still in it despite these wickets was down to Rahul. It needed the skilful Siraj to dismiss him with DC needing 45 off three overs. By then, the pressure was telling.
That GT were eventually able to get over the line was down to their run cushion, made possible thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler, Gill and Washington Sundar. Buttler looked unshackled, hitting four sixes off his first 15 deliveries en route a bruising half-century, while Gill played himself in and then allayed fears of neck spasms during his takedown of Kuldeep with the slog sweep. Then Washington, promoted to No. 4, struck his maiden IPL fifty to shore up the innings.
Even so, GT managed just 49 off the last five. On another day, this may have proved to be costly. It didn’t on Wednesday, and for that, they have Rashid to thank.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 210 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 70, Jos Buttler 52, Washington Sundar 55, Glenn Phillips 14*; Mukesh Kumar 2-55, Lungi Ngidi 1-24, Kuldeep Yadav 1-42 ) beat Delhi Capitals 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 92, David Miller 41*, Vipraj Nigam 12; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Rashid Khan 3-17, Prasidh Krishna 2-52) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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