Veteran Quinton De Kock demands adaptability from Proteas ahead of T20 World Cup

Proteas batter Quinton de Kock emphasised the importance of being adaptable as batters as they head to India and Sri Lanka for the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Earlier this week, De Kock led South Africa to a seven-wicket victory at SuperSport Park, a victory that secured an unassailable 2-0 series lead for the hosts with one match remaining in the Pink Day T20I match in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Going into the third and final T20I match against the West Indies, and also looking forward to the T20 World Cup in India, De Kock reiterated the importance of being adaptable as batters, as they will find different conditions in India.

“I think the wickets are going to play a difference. Especially that I see we've got a day game. So wickets in India do change from day to night,” De Kock said.

“I think we've always spoken about the South African batters being adaptable in our games, not being a one certain batter. Everybody needs to play multiple roles, not just one certain role.

“Even though they're known to do one certain role, they're still processing being a world-class batter. So, we've always spoken about it. It's just a matter of adding options to guys' games. Knowledge of the game, when to pull the trigger, how to balance, these sorts of things.

"There are still some youngsters, and we still try to help them where we can. But pretty much we're trying to be as adaptable as we can. Almost put it where anybody can bat anywhere at a certain time.”

A batter who has shown good signs of adaptability in the ongoing West Indies series is Ryan Rickelton. The left-hander is usually an opening batter, but since an opportunity has opened for him to bat at number three in the Proteas batting order, he has adjusted his game to fit the batting position.

Rickelton has finished unbeaten since he assumed the number three position with scores of 40 and 77 in Paarl and Centurion, respectively.

De Kock praised Rickelton for the adjustments that he has made for the betterment of the team. “I think guys like specifically Ricks, who's batting a little bit out of position, it's something that he's not used to, but the last two innings, he batted really well,” De Kock said.

“I think he just worked on one or two things he needed to do in order to bat number three. You can see it's doing really well for now, and obviously, he's got some confidence from it.”

The third and final match between South Africa and the West Indies is scheduled to get underway at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg at 6pm.