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South Africa wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock continued his woeful performance against his arch nemesis Josh Hazlewood during the semifinal of ICC Cricket World Cup at again st Australia in the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Much was expected from an in-form De Kock in the semifinals that the batter will continue his rich run of form and guide Proteas to finals. But the wicketkeeper-batter was troubled heavily by the Australian pace battery and played dot ball after dot ball. Eventually, he played a mistimed shot with hard hands and skipper Pat Cummins took a catch at mid-on on a delivery by Hazlewood. De Kock, Protea's best batter this World Cup was back in the hut for three of 14 balls. De Kock has bad numbers against Hazlewood in ODIs. He has faced 173 balls against the pacer out of which 121 have been dot balls. Only 18 balls have been dispatched for a boundary and only three have been sent into the skies for a six by De Kock against Hazlewood. Hazlewood has dismissed De Kock eight times, the most he has dismissed any batter in ODIs. The Proteas star averages only 15.75 against Hazlewood and has a low strike rate of 72.83 against Hazlewood. In this World Cup so far, De Kock has scored 594 runs at an average of 59.40 and a strike rate of over 107, with four centuries in 10 innings. His best score is 174. He is the second-highest run-getter in the tournament so far, with India's Virat Kohli at the top with 711 runs. Coming to the match, South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to bat first. Whoever wins the match will join India in the final on November 19 at Ahmedabad. Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi. (ANI)
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