WI vs SA: Quinton de Kock reveals the reason behind his hand-gesture celebration after his century

Quinton de Kock had a roller-coaster of a year in 2020 and the early part of 2021. Thrusted into captaincy initially in the limited overs formats and then the Tests, the wicketkeeper-batter endured a dip in form which also coincided with Proteas’ blip in all the formats. Now, relieved from the leadership burden, the southpaw announced himself with a bang on the West Indies tour in the first Test.

He smashed his sixth hundred in the format and dedicated it to a friend who lost his finger in Afghanistan and to rhino conservation in South Africa. De Kock celebrated both his fifty and hundred by his bat in such a manner that the name of Rockwood, an organization battling to save the endangered rhino and also prominently showed a hand gesture holding the ring finger of his right hand down and thereby spreading the other three fingers.

The southpaw scored his first century in the Caribbean island and put his team in a position of strength against West Indies in the first of the two-match Test series.

“It’s just a friend group I have back home,” de Kock told the host broadcaster. “A couple people know I am doing this initiative with the rhino thing and one of my friends got his fingers shot off in Afghanistan, and I said I will salute to him.”

De Kock’s interesting story of century celebration

When quizzed further Quinton de Kock further revealed how he decided to dedicate a century with a finger celebration. “I am doing Rockwood and the Rhino conservation and it’s a whole group of us. The one night we had a braai and we started talking and I said his finger being shot off is quite a limelight in our group of friends so I said I will do that as an accolade for him. I couldn’t believe it happened first time. I am sure my phone with the boys’ group is going to be buzzing.”

Clearly taking the captaincy burden off him and a well-deserved timely break has made De Kock got back his form which augurs well for South Africa in a crucial phase of re-building the team.