Dale Steyn Names The South African Batsman Who Plays Cover Drive Like Virat Kohli

Former South African pacer Dale Steyn has named one South African batsman who plays cover drive like Virat Kohli. South Africa, on Tuesday (December 12), beat India by 5 wickets (DLS method) in the second T20I to take the lead in the three-match series. Led by opener Reeza Hendricks’ quickfire 49-run knock, the Proteas chased down the 152-run target in just 13.5 overs.

Asked to bat first, India were on 180 for 7 in 19.3 overs when rain brought a premature end to their innings. India’s openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill departed even without opening their accounts before half-centuries from Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh guided the team to a competitive total. While Suryakumar scored 56 off 36 balls, Rinku remained unbeaten on 68 off 39 balls.

South Africa were given a revised total of 152 runs in 15 overs. The hosts came out all guns blazing and raced away to 38 for no loss in the first two overs. Reeza Hendricks led the charge with the bat for his side, scoring 49 runs off just 27 balls with the help of eight fours and a six.

Dale Steyn compares Reeza Hendricks with Virat Kohli:

With Reeza Hendricks impressing once again in white-ball cricket, former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has compared him with none other than Virat Kohli, arguably the best batsman of this generation. The South Africa great stated that Reeza Hendricks’ cover drive is right up there in terms of technical astuteness with that of Kohli.

“He played so beautifully, technically correct but he also has an incredible power game and he is a wonderful timer of the ball. We talk about Virat Kohli having the classical beautiful drive, Reeza Hendricks is right up there in playing that shot,” said Steyn on Star Sports.

“You saw tonight how well he played. He read the game well, took it on when it needed to be done. It was a superb knock,” he added.

Speaking further, Dale Steyn acknowledged that India were unlucky as he pointed out Reeza Hendricks’ struggle against the new ball when he edged several deliveries but managed to survive.

“India were a little unlucky. They found the edge of his bat once or twice at the start. They put in a second slip there, he was quite in position and they went a little wide but he managed to get a couple of sneaky boundaries but that’s cricket. He rode his luck and batted really well at the end of the day,” he said.