Watch: Quinton de Kock plays a reverse flick off Sunil Narine; leaves LSG dugout impressed
For once Sunil Narine was made to look clueless as Quinton de Kock unfurled a memorable reverse sweep for six.
What has been a challenge too good for most batters in Indian T20 league, Quinton de Kock nailed it in a brief moment by smashing Kolkata mystery spin legend Sunil Narine for a maximum on Wednesday (May 18) night.
The Lucknow opener went after the tournament's most economical bowler and dispatched him for a six via an eye-catching reverse swat that sailed over the backward point boundary.
Swiping it off a length, the left-hander found excellent timing on his stroke and got the desired result in his and Lucknow's kitty.
Not known for his spin handling abilities, Quinton de Kock played a shot that would dispel some of the doubts around the South African wicketkeeper-batter.
Quinton de Kock is officially signed up on the Cricket NFT platform Rario, which has several other players in its roster. Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are a few other major Indian players on Rario's roster.
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Quinton de Kock's magnificent reverse sweep for six
The exhilarating stroke was seen in the back half of the Lucknow's first-innings batting effort. Batting well set on 51* off 37 deliveries, Quinton de Kock attempted a reverse sweep against Narine, considered a very difficult prospect because of the spinner's incisive nature and element of mystery to his bowling.
For De Kock, though, the attempt turned out mighty successful, as he found optimum connection on his risky stroke against the turn and absolutely hammered the ball over the ropes through the off-side for the left-hander.
Watch: Rohit Sharma unfurls lap shot against Natarajan to smash a superb six
What helped the Proteas batter is that the length of the ball was right up to his planted front foot and came perfectly beneath his downswing, nullifying the risk involved in the stroke and allowing him to find the desired result.
— Ruturaj (@RuturajRulez) May 18, 2022
Not just the maximum, De Kock would've been pleased with his overall innings for the night, reaching a half-century in Lucknow's critical league stage encounter of the tournament.
With a win important for Lucknow to ensure the playoffs berth, the team needed their established opening batter to come to the party. And he did exactly that with a superlative effort that helped them maximise the powerplay overs alongside captain KL Rahul.
De Kock had made 362 runs from his 13 innings of the tournament ahead of the Kolkata encounter, averaging 27.85 with a strike-rate of 136.09.