Whoever handles pressure better will win: De Kock ahead of India–South Africa Super Eights clash

Ahmedabad: When India take on South Africa in their opening Super Eights game at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday, it will be a battle between two teams who would be familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. 

Late last year, South Africa visited India for a full-fledged bilateral series — two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is. While the World Test Championship title holders won the red-ball rubber 2-0, India triumphed in white-ball affairs, winning ODIs 2-1 and the T20Is 3-1. 

South Africa opener Quinton de Kock, who returned from international retirement only for limited-overs just before the series against Pakistan, reckoned familiarity of teams and conditions is a ‘double-edged sword’ and the one who handles pressure better on the day will emerge victorious.

“I think what's going to make for quite a good game tomorrow is we've played against each other quite a bit over the last two months. And to be honest, the teams haven't really changed much. So I think it's more when you're out there on the pressure side, who deals with the pressure better and wins the small moments in the game,” said de Kock at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

“And not even just playing against India. I think in the IPL, we're always playing against each other a lot. Everyone knows each other, how everyone plays, how everybody thinks. So I think it's just a matter of being out there who falls under the pressure first.”

Ahmedabad has pretty much been the base for South Africa this T20 World Cup. They played all but one of their group games here and will also compete in two of the three Super Eight games at the same venue. De Kock felt that could give them a slight advantage.

“I think it does help quite a bit. We've played a day game and a night game, so we kind of understand the conditions. But I don’t think it means too much because the Indian teams have played here, through IPLs and a lot of them have played their whole careers, so I don't think it plays that much of a difference at the end of the day.”

India beat South Africa by seven runs in a nerve-shredding T20 World Cup final in the previous edition at Barbados in 2024, a game the Rainbow Nation bungled up in familiar fashion despite being in control of the chase until the end. When asked if the scars still remain of the fateful day, De Kock said the team has moved on. 

“To be honest, after that day, we just forgot about it, in all honesty. I don't think any of us really wanted to speak about it. Everyone went home and kind of went through their own process of how to deal with it. We didn't need to talk about it as a team. That's pretty much it. We never really spoke about it.”