South African Opener Reeza Hendricks revealed that the Proteas team was confident in going into the historic chase in the 2nd T20 against West Indies. South Africa chased down an unbelievable 259 to beat West Indies by six wickets with 7 balls to spare.
Speaking to the media, after the epic chase against the Men in Maroon, the South Africa Opener revealed an interesting conversation with Kagiso Rabada where he funnily said that West Indies were 10 runs short recalling the words of legendary Jacques Kallis words during their chase of 438 runs against Australia.
“Funnily enough, KG said they’re 10 runs short when we went off the field, which probably is similar to what Jacques did for the team, We managed to get over the line and play this incredible game.” Reeza Hendricks said.
Hendricks said that the chat was very simple, as the pitch was a very good wicket they never doubted the chase as they had a deep batting to chase down the total.
“The chat was quite simple, Everybody was quietly confident that this was a good wicket. We never doubted ourselves at any stage. We believed we had the batting order to chase the score down,” he added.
The stylish right-handed batter played exceptionally well to score 68 runs off 22 balls and shared a 152-run partnership with the opener de Kock providing a platform for the middle-order batters to take them home in an epic chase in Centurion Park.
Earlier West Indies batted brilliantly to post their highest total in T20s, with Johnson Charles scoring the fastest century by West Indian in International cricket. With South Africa winning the 2nd T20 the series is levelled 1-1, with the deciding and final T20 scheduled to be held in Wanderers Stadium on 28th March.
It Was A Special Innings To Witness – Reeza Hendricks On Quinton de Kock’s Innings
Reeza Hendricks praised his opening partner Quinton de Kock for his fantastic century which helped South Africa to get over the line in 18.5 overs. de Kock’s scored the second-fastest ton by a South African batter in T20Is in 43 balls next to David Miller.
“We didn’t have total in mind. But to score that number of runs was a bonus. [Quinton’s innings were crucial]. That’s the Quinny I know. It doesn’t come off all the time, but it did when the team needed it the most. That’s how he plays. The wicket allowed for his stroke play and it was a special inning to witness,” Reeza Hendricks said.
South Africa scripted a record by chasing 258 runs and it is now the biggest total chased down by a team in all T20s. South Africa’s highest chase came under their new skipper Aiden Markram, which also registered his 1st win as captain since taking over the captaincy from Temba Bavuma.