India takes on South Africa in the opening match of the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 stage in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The encounter will also be a rematch of the 2024 T20 World Cup final, which India won. Speaking ahead of the Super 8 match, South Africa’s opener Quinton de Kock spoke about the defeat in the 2024 final and revealed his side had “just forgotten about it”.
In the final, South Africa were in better shape for most of the match and, in the chase, needed just 30 runs off the last 30 balls. Heinrich Klaasen was batting and dominating the Indian bowlers, including beating Axar Patel for 24 runs in one over.
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But all-rounder Hardik Pandya came to India’s rescue, removing Klaassen in the 17th over, and South Africa collapsed in the last three overs.
“None of us wanted to talk about it”: Quinton de Kock
“To be honest, after that game, we forgot about it. In all honesty, none of us wanted to talk about it. We went home and did our own processes on how to deal with it. That’s pretty much it. We never talked about it,” he said.
When asked if South Africa were the best team to face, or rather beat, India in the finals, De Kock said: “No, I don’t think so. I think the nature of the World Cup is that it does not allow favoritism at some stage, because at any moment in the match, anyone can win a match out of nowhere.”
“So that’s the thing, it’s quite a volatile game, especially the T20 World Cup, because games can be changed in two to three times by just one individual, so I wouldn’t say anyone is really favored because there are some really good teams coming through now. Maybe one or two players are playing better cricket, but that doesn’t mean they will win future matches. That’s just because of the volatility of the T20 World Cup.”
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