Quinton de Kock, Mumbai Indians’ senior wicket-keeper batsman on Thursday said he feels “very safe” inside the IPL bio-security bubble, two days after leg-spinner Adam Zampa called it one of the “most vulnerable” before taking a flight back to Australia.
A day after deciding to quit the league midway citing personal reasons, Adam Zampa had said the bio-bubble put in place for the ongoing T20 event was the “most vulnerable” he has been a part of. But Quinton de Kock thought otherwise.
Quinton de Kock Feels Pretty Safe In Bio Bubbles Unlike Adam Zampa
Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa on Tuesday said he decided to quit the IPL midway as it was the “most vulnerable” bio-secure bubble he has been a part of and the tournament should have been held in UAE, like last year.
Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson, who were part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad, flew back home later on Tuesday, having pulled out citing personal reasons.
“To be honest, we trust in our doctors, so we are pretty safe in our bubbles. At least we feel very safe and it is quite easy,” Quinton de Kock said after winning the match against Rajasthan Royals
“We still take precautions and I felt safe. I don’t know about other guys. I am speaking for myself. It is being easy to get on with the game and practice and everything,” the South African added.
Quinton De Kock, on his part, said that it was a ‘lot easier’ to bat on the ‘Kotla’ track after the struggles in Chennai. In the match, Rajasthan Royals posted 171/4 but it was overshadowed by Quinton de Kock’s blistering 70, as the defending champions completed the task in 18.3 overs.
“Obviously, it was a lot bit easier to bat over here. Was quite pleasant. We are just happy to win it. It feels good to score some runs again, especially in a winning cause,” the southpaw said.
“Yeah, genuinely with our team, we always try and get one of our top four just bat through to the last (part) of our innings. We did that today and obviously the changes from Chennai to Delhi have helped a bit,” he added.
Pacer Chris Morris broke the 49-run first wicket partnership after opener Rohit Sharma was caught by Chetan Sakaria at mid-on and MI was 49 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. Both – Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav ensured the momentum stood by MI’s side and kept the boundaries flowing off the bat against the RR seamers.
MI was 83-1 after 9 overs before Chris Morris provided the all-important breakthrough to get rid of Suryakumar Yadav, who scored 16. Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock reached his fifty and was joined by Krunal Pandya. The equation came down to 32 off 24 deliveries.
Krunal Pandya edged one into the stumps but Kieron Pollard wrapped up the chase after Chris Morris conceded 16 runs in his final over and MI sealed a victory by seven wickets.
Sanju Samson Feels Rajasthan Was 20-25 Runs Short
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson conceded that his side was 20-25 runs short.
“We played an afternoon game, but the wicket was fine and the ball was coming on the bat. I felt we were a bit 20-25 runs short. We need to play some fearless and positive cricket when we come out there and play the next game,” Samson said at the post-match conference.
Despite the loss and unavailability of stars, Sanju Samson backed his players to come good saying they were still looking to win games.
“We keep on believing in our players and keep on believing in our team. We know that we are going a bit tough phase, star players are not available with us, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Liam Livingstone but, at the same time, I am proud of my team that we are keeping up the positive vibes, we are still looking to win the coming games,” he said.
Sanju Samson also said the current COVID-19 situation in the country is discussed among his players.
“I think it (the donation) is the least we can do according to the financial part. But, at the same time, we often keep on discussing (about) the situation in the country (and) throughout the world.
“We feel very privileged to be out there and play this game. We just need to go out there and play some good cricket to make them happy or keep them entertain(ed), so we keep having discussions.
“The purpose is very clear you just need to play some good cricket to bring up the spirit of the entire country,” added Samson.
The situation became worse with Rajasthan Royals’ main all-rounder Ben Stokes being ruled out of the tournament with a broken finger while Liam Livingstone and Andrew Tye leaving the tournament midway due to bio-bubble fatigue after premier pacer Jofra Archer was declared to miss the entire IPL 2021 after undergoing surgery on his middle finger.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians: 172-3 (Quinton de Kock 70*, Krunal Pandya 39; Chris Morris 2-33 ) beat Rajasthan Royals: 171/4 (Sanju Samson 42, Jos Buttler 41; Rahul Chahar 2-33) by 7 wickets.