NEW DELHI: Quinton de Kock blasted his way to 115 off just 49 deliveries, leading South Africa to a dominant seven-wicket win over the West Indies in Centurion on Thursday.
Using a bat borrowed from Dewald Brevis, de Kock produced the finest knock of his T20I career. He found strong support from fellow left-hander Ryan Rickelton, who capped off the chase with an unbeaten 77 off 36 balls.
The pair made light work of the target, tearing into the West Indies attack and racing to victory in just 11.5 overs. Their explosive partnership yielded 162 runs and kept South Africa scoring at a blistering rate of 12 runs per over throughout the chase.
"Special to watch," South Africa captain Aiden Markram said. "Quinny put on a great show for the crowd. Ricks flies under the radar but to get us home back to back is a good effort from him."
Despite West Indies posting an imposing 221 for 4, South Africa showed no signs of panic as they powered their way to 225 for 3, sealing the chase with 15 balls remaining. The daunting target barely troubled the Proteas, who had previously hunted down an even bigger total of 258 at the same venue in 2023 - a match highlighted by de Kock's maiden T20I century.
The victory also carried added significance for South Africa. After enduring five consecutive bilateral T20I series defeats, the Proteas handed head coach Shukri Conrad his first series win in the format, wrapping up the contest 2-0 with one game still to play.
The final match is scheduled for Saturday, after which both teams will turn their attention to the T20 World Cup, which begins next week across India and Sri Lanka.
De Kock was rested from the first T20, where Markram hit 86 not out in a nine-wicket win chasing 174. The captain made only 15 this time but de Kock, who was on 6, took up the mantle and launched sixes against five of the six West Indies bowlers.
He brought 50 up in 21 balls and got to 100 off 43. He was going for a third consecutive six off Akeal Hosein when he miscued to mid-off and was out after smashing 10 sixes and six boundaries.
Rickelton was dropped on 17 and happy to play second fiddle to de Kock. He had just got to his fifty off 25 balls when de Kock left then finished the match in a rush. Rickelton hit nine boundaries and three sixes.
The West Indies made only one change after the first T20, bringing in captain, wicketkeeper and opening batter Shai Hope. But he was out for 4 from a nick behind.
That brought in Shimron Hetmyer, who overtook opener Brandon King en route to a 30-ball fifty, two days after hitting 48 in Paarl. Their partnership of 126 ended when King was caught on the boundary on a 30-ball 49.
Hetmyer was fourth out after a 42-ball 75, 50 of them from boundaries. Sherfane Rutherford then blasted 57 in an unbroken stand of 76 with Romario Shepherd, who made 17.
Spinner Keshav Maharaj was the pick of the South Africa bowlers with 2-22. Markram said without that spell they would have been chasing 240-250.
(With AP Inputs)
