"De Kock is playing like gully cricket with USA players" - Fans hail Proteas wicketkeeper for magnificent knock in 2024 T20 World Cup Super 8 opener

South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock finally came to the 2024 T20 World Cup party in the side's opening Super Eight clash against the USA in Antigua on June 19. The 31-year-old scored a breathtaking 40-ball 74 with seven boundaries and five maximums to get the Proteas innings rolling.

De Kock managed to score only 48 runs in his first four innings of the tournament, yet, looked in a dominant mood from the word-go against the hapless USA attack. He was particularly severe on pacer Jasdeep Singh in the fourth over of the innings, smashing a hattrick of sixes.

The southpaw was eventually dismissed off a juicy full toss from Harmeet Singh with the score on 126/1 in the 13th over. Quinton de Kock's return to form is a welcome sign for the South Africans, considering their top-order struggles in the four group-stage outings.

Fans on Twitter hailed the champion batter for his sparkling batting display with the following reactions:

Fans continued praising De Kock for his free-flowing knock with one saying:

"Quinton De Kock - The Big match Player."

"Q De Kock is teaching us how to play mighty USA," said a fan.

"Sublime wristwork. Not many better free-flowing players out there than QDK," a fan tweeted.

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Quinton de Kock's heroics propelled South Africa to their best batting performance of 2024 T20 World Cup

The South African batters finally broke out of their slump from the group stage and put on a scintillating display in their Super Eight opener against the USA. Aiden Markram's men had not crossed even 120 in the four games thus far despite winning on all four occasions in the group stages.

However, on a much better batting track at Antigua, the Proteas top-order made merry, racing to 125/1 in 12 overs. Apart from De Kock's brilliant 40-ball 74, South Africa were also buoyed by skipper Markram's classy 46 off 32 deliveries.

Yet, they still endured a mini-collapse, falling from 126/1 in the 13th over to 141/4 in 15 overs. But, Heinrich Klaasen resurrected the innings with a powerful 36* off 22 deliveries, providing a strong finish for South Africa to reach a massive 194/4 in 20 overs.

For the USA, the ever-impressive Saurabh Netravalkar produced figures of 2/21 in four overs, and left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh finished with 2/24 in his four overs. However, the rest of the attack faltered against the rampant South African batting lineup.