Quinton de Kock, the young South African batsman who is representing the Delhi Daredevils in Pepsi Indian Premier League 2014, spoke to the media ahead of the Delhi franchise’s first match on their home ground, on May 3. Speaking about the team’s campaign so far, he said, “We started off a little slowly in the tournament. We struggled a little bit and lost the first couple of games. But we came back well and we are playing good cricket now. It is good finish off (the UAE leg) on a good note.”

The Daredevils beat defending champions Mumbai Indians in their last game of the UAE leg and will take on the Rajasthan Royals in their first match of the India leg of the tournament. When asked about returning to India, he mentioned, “There is more hype about IPL in India as compared to UAE. I have only been here for a couple of days and yet to experience that. I think I’ll get a taste of it for the first time at (the Ferozeshah) Kotla on Saturday.”

Speaking about his batting, the youngster said, “I don’t think I’ll change my game plan in different tournaments. If there are some corrections required, I’ll do those, but for me it’s important to keep it simple.” 

When asked if the batting has under-performed in the five matches so far, he explained, “I don’t think the batting has under-performed. Maybe in the first match a bit. JP Duminy and others have managed to step it up. We almost managed to chase down 190 in one of the matches, so the batting is slowly kicking into gear.”

“I think we are doing better now. We are gelling well as a team,” de Kock said.

While speaking about the environment in DD as compared to Sunrisers (Hyderabad), for whom he played last year, de Kock said, “The environment in the Daredevils is a little bit different than Sunrisers. There were more Australian players in the coaching staff there. Here I feel more at home with guys like Gary (Kirsten) and Rob Walters. Not that it wasn’t very comfortable there, but it is nice to be around familiar faces.”

Asked about the home advantage while playing at Kotla, the batsman said, “As a foreign player this does feel like an away game for me, but looking at the mental aspect, the local players as well as someone like KP (Kevin Pietersen, the DD skipper) will feel more at home here and give a bit of an edge.”

Speaking about the skipper’s reaction to dropped catches, he said, “KP didn’t really scold us; he was actually a little disappointed that we looked lethargic on the field. It’s something that the captain has to do to keep his players in check. He is an unbelievable person. KP is a really chilled out guy. I had never met or spoken to him before. He is very down-to-earth.”

Speaking about the Kotla pitch, he said, “Haven’t had a chance to look at the wicket here. They are still in the process of preparing it. We will have a better idea after our first game.”