“Neither. They are both gun cricketers and matchwinners.” – Gary Kirsten on whether he would rather do without Quinton de Kock or Rohit Sharma.
Telford Vice | Cape Town
WILL Quinton de Kock leave a bigger hole in South Africa’s XI than Rohit Sharma in India’s in the imminent Test series between the teams? Or is Rohit more valuable to India than De Kock is to South Africa? There is, of course, no definitive answer. But that won’t stop the question from being asked.
De Kock is available for the first Test in Centurion from December 26, but his presence thereafter is not assured. He is set to become a father, and the plan at this stage is that he will miss the third Test at Newlands from January 11 to be with his partner. But childbirth doesn’t keep a timetable, so he could already be busy with his real life when the second Test starts at the Wanderers on January 3 and might, in that case, stay home for the third match as well. Rohit’s situation is more straightforward: he has been ruled out of all three matches with a hamstring injury.
The cold facts of the absentees’ playing records put them in neighbouring ballparks. De Kock has scored 3,245 runs at 39.09 in 89 Test innings with six centuries and 22 half-centuries. Rohit has been to the crease 74 times, and has 3,047 runs — among them eight centuries and 14 50s — at 46.87.
South Africa have won 29 of the 53 Tests in which De Kock has played, and India 24 of Rohit’s 43. Only once have South Africa lost despite De Kock scoring a century. India have never been beaten when Rohit has reached three figures.
Since De Kock made his debut, against Australia at St George’s Park in February 2014, only Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla have scored more runs for South Africa. Only Amla had fewer innings than De Kock in that time, and only one fewer. Only Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have scored more for India since Rohit first took guard, against West Indies at Eden Gardens in November 2013. Kohli, Pujara and Rahane have had between 58 and 60 more innings since Rohit arrived.
De Kock has been outscored by Elgar, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen in 2021. No Indian has made more runs this year than Rohit, and in the wider world of Test batting only Joe Root has been more successful. In South Africa’s most recent series, in St Lucia in June, De Kock scored a career-best 141 not out and 96. In Rohit’s last innings, at the Oval in September, he made 127.
South Africa have ready replacements for De Kock in their squad in the shape of Kyle Verreynne and Ryan Rickelton. Both understudies are, like the star, hard-charging wicketkeeper-batters. Verreynne played as a batter in the series in the Caribbean, scoring 39 runs in three innings. Rickelton is uncapped, but has hammered two centuries in three innings in first-class matches this season.
Priyank Panchal, who captained India A in two of three four-day matches against their South Africa counterparts in Bloemfontein in the past three weeks — and scored 96 in the first of them — will stand in for Rohit in the squad. But KL Rahul, who has scored six centuries as an opener, including at the SCG, the Oval and at Lord’s, seems a more likely replacement.
De Kock and Rohit operate at opposite sides of the batting crease, and of the order. Lusty left-hander De Kock has batted at Nos. 6 and 7 in 66 innings — almost 75% of his total — and higher than No. 5 just nine times. Rohit, a silkily skilled right-hander, made his debut at No. 6 and was there or at No. 5 for all but six of his first 53 trips to the crease. But, in his 27 innings since October 2019, he has opened exclusively.
That’s all well and good, but none of the above comes close to answering the original question. At best it tells us what we know: that De Kock and Rohit are pivotal players for their teams. De Kock has a similar effect on cricketminded South Africans as Hashim Amla — they are reassured by his mere presence. The sight of Rohit, too, calms India’s supporters: everything’s going to be alright.
Rohit has been proving that point from the beginning of his career, scoring 177 on debut and 111 not out in his next innings. Opportunities for De Kock to score big in Tests are comparatively fewer because he bats lower in the order. So it took him 11 innings to make his first century, an undefeated 129 against England at Centurion in January 2016. It started after South Africa had shambled from 237/1 to 273/5, and flew off 128 balls with 80 runs flowing in fours and sixes.
The two players’ worlds collided poetically at Visakhapatnam in November 2019, when Rohit opened the batting for the first time and scored 176 and 127. He was dismissed the same way in both innings — stumped off Keshav Maharaj by De Kock, whose 111 in the first innings remains his only century in a losing cause: India won by 203 runs.
Poetry is nice to have, but would you rather be without De Kock or Rohit? Gary Kirsten offered a one-liner in a test message: “Neither. They are both gun cricketers and matchwinners.” Mickey Arthur went a half-step further in another short, sharp text: “It’s an interesting one, but I think Quinton is a matchwinner.”
Paddy Upton replied with a voice note: “It really depends on the balance of the team. Rohit’s a gun up front and he’s someone who can really hurt you in the context of Test cricket. Quinton, as a No. 6 or 7, is also someone who can frustrate the living hell out of you. I think both of them have a touch of genius; they’re both genuine game changers, innings-makers and opposition-breakers in their own right. Rohit has the extra arrow of [white-ball] captain and ‘Quinnie’ of wicketkeeper, so they both bring two skills to the equation.”
The Test series will be about who plays more than about who doesn’t. But before we surrender to its realities it seems right to ponder the imponderables; to grant those who won’t be there for all or some of its drama their share of the spotlight.
De Kock or Rohit? We can’t answer the question, but asking it takes us to places we mightn’t have gone.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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