VIDEO | Quinton de Kock left embarrassed after “one of the worst lbw reviews ever”

One of the highlights of Quinton de Kock’s innings yesterday was the way he hit out against the Sri Lankan pacers as his 81-run innings as the hosts raced to a 1-0 lead in the series. His innings had everything a modern-day cricket follower could have asked for and no one would have blamed him for getting out. But, by taking a DRS on that ball, he left himself open for ridicule.

On the second ball of the 24th over, de Kock tried to flick an Akila Dhananjay delivery across the line after the ball kept straight. Going to the back foot, the South Africa wicket-keeper thought he would get enough time to guide the ball to the square, but the pace of the ball meant he had failed in his pursuit and the ball struck him on his back pad. 

Firstly, he made the mistake of letting the ball go back deep into the crease with him, which means there was hardly any doubt for the umpire to raise his finger to signal the end of his innings. The lack of bounce convinced the umpire that it was out anyway, but de Kock seemed surprised by that. He stood his ground for a second or three before signalling to the umpire that he wanted to go upstairs for the decision.

The third umpire found out that the impact was directly in front of the middle-stump and it stayed so low that the wicket could have been referred as a tutorial video for perfect LBW dismissal. Aleem Dar instantly asked the big-screen operator to flash “OUT” on the screen, leaving de Kock embarrassed on his long walk back to the dressing room.