South African dressing room never really spoke about 2024 T20 World Cup final loss: Quinton de Kock

AHMEDABAD, February 21: The demons of South Africa’s disappointing loss to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup final were so haunting that they did not know any particular way to get over it. Quinton de Kock, who opened for the Proteas in that game, spoke on how all the members of the team never really discussed the final-over loss in Barbados.

The wicketkeeper-batter further spoke about how the team members had to figure out their own ways to get over the disappointment, where the Aiden Markram-led side fell short by just seven runs. None of the teammates really discussed the elephant in the dressing room, at least till the time de Kock announced his now-reversed retirement. 

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 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. I think from there, I haven’t been around with the team since then, not much, so they probably have, but I’ve only just joined for the last couple of months. So as far as I know that’s all that’s happened,” he revealed during pre-match press conference on Saturday.

De Kock boasts a strong record against India, especially in the shortest format of the game. In only 15 innings against the Men in Blue, the Pretoria-born has smashed 507 runs at an impressive average of 42.25 and a strike rate touching 150. He also has six half-centuries, two of which came during the five-match series in December 2025. De Kock expects a great contest with assistance to the batters on Sunday.

“Yeah, I think just generally when we play against India and India comes to us, we generally always play on good wickets. And India is kind of known for high-scoring countries. So I think you can take that as the positive note. Obviously in Ahmedabad lately there have been some good high scores, but in saying that, still another game – obviously the pass – said it’s a high-scoring ground, but you never know what happens tomorrow, so yeah, we’ll just have to see how it goes and just play it by ear. Hopefully we score more runs than the Indian team at the end of the day,” he said.

The two sides will face off once again in the Super Eights’ fixture on February 22 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The two sides had also played a warm-up game previously, but everything is on the line this time round, and any slip-ups can prove to be extremely unpleasing later.