Australia is facing off against a new-look South Africa today. Hosted by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium, the clash also happens to be this World Cup’s opening encounter. The coin-toss went Aaron Finch’s way and he invited South Africa to bat first. The first over went for 11 runs and it looked as if Finch’s call would backfire. However, such wasn’t the case. None of the South Africa’s top three could get going as they ended up posting just 118 runs on the board.
Quinton de Kock loses his wicket in a very comical manner
Captain Bavuma and in-form Van der Dussen were dismissed in quick succession. The onus to score heavily was on Quiton’s shoulders. But it was evident that de Kock was struggling for timing. Finally, the inevitable happened when Josh Hazlewood was handed the penultimate over of the powerplay.
South Africa’s run-rate was ticking under six. Understandably, Quinton was looking for a boundary. Hazlewood came steaming in and bowled a length-ball on the off-stump. Quinton tried to get cheeky, walking across the sticks in a bid to paddle the ball over fine leg. But he failed to connect with the ball as it ballooned off his thigh-pad before funnily falling back onto the stumps in slo-mo.
What made the dismissal even more comical was that de Kock just stood there, watching it all happen. It was a moment of total ‘brain-fade’ as de Kock chose to stand there like a mannequin. He did nothing to stop the ball from hitting the stumps. Watch the video here.
https://twitter.com/rishobpuant/status/1451865234860167171?t=BMROqVlar7HWEEYeNgbLHQ&s=19
Even after the dismissal, de Kock looked puzzled on his way back to the pavillion. So were the viewers.
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Coming back to the match, Aiden Markram top-scored with a fighting 39 as South Africa could muster just 118 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers for Australia, taking two wickets for just 19 runs. Everyone other bowler also chipped in with one or more wickets, making sure that SA got no impetus throughout the innings.