'I think prior to my retirement, I was losing my hunger to win games for this team.'
Quinton de Kock has got his hunger back to win games for South Africa, feels fitter than ever and is batting as if he never spent time away from international cricket.
His sublime 90 off 46 balls in the second T20I against India was a testament to the left-hander's renewed purpose in playing for South Africa again. In the age of power-hitting, de Kock relies on conventional strokeplay and makes batting look effortless.
The 32-year-old had retired from ODIs after the 2023 World Cup and had not played the shortest format since the loss to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup final until October.
De Kock is now back playing white-ball cricket and says the time away from the game actually allowed him to realise what he was missing out on.
"I think prior to my retirement, I was losing my hunger to win games for this team. That time away just brought back my hunger. I was telling the guys, I don't think I've ever felt this way," de Kock spoke in depth about his reasons for an international comeback.
"Before when you're young, you're trying to just play to score runs and impress. I feel now that there's a renewed energy where I'm not just playing. I'm playing to win every game with a renewed energy."
De Kock said he had lost his motivation after going through the grind of international cricket day in and day out.
"Before, it would be hard to wake up and go play for the team again. Especially when you play a series over and over where you've played India multiple times, home and away. Over time, I was getting sick of it. I was looking for a new challenge and I wasn't getting it.
"Now coming back, I feel like this is actually what I missed. Everyone knows, you never know what you have until you've lost it. Now coming back, there's a renewed energy where I feel I can play much longer than what I thought previously," said the elegant left-hander.
Now that he has found the drive to excel for his team in white-ball formats, is there a possibility for a return to Test cricket?
"You are not the only one who has asked me this but as of now it's a straight no," de Kock said on a lighter note.
The opener said his decision to reverse retirement was taken after due deliberation and the break was needed for him to rekindle his love for the sport.
"It wasn't a decision that I just woke up and had. I think over time, the more break I had, the more I felt more ready to come back. I'd already played in international cricket for more than a decade.
"When I left, I was quite exhausted from international cricket. So my break, I still feel, was much needed. So when I came back now, I've got a lot of energy I feel I can put back towards the team.
"I've always said to coach, to Shooks (Shukri Conrad), I want to play as long as I can now. I don't think I could have had that mindset if I carried on playing. I think I would have finished my career earlier. Now I feel I can prolong my career. I feel fitter than ever. Mentally also, I'm not exhausted," said the stylish batter.
Considering he had played the game long enough, de Kock said adjusting to the current demands of the game was not tough.
"It was pretty easy, coming back as a batsman. Because I was doing it quite a bit before, I knew what it took in order to be an international cricketer again. So that transition was fairly simple.
"It's just a matter of just doing it. But yeah, I didn't change much while I was away. Though I know world cricket is changing, at least in the T20 game," he said.
De Kock is done playing the traditional format but besides a truckload of white ball games, he represented the country in 54 Tests. With close to 5000 runs, he also proved himself in the long format.
Is it sustainable to play all three formats with so much cricket being played nowadays?
"I still think to this day that good cricketers, guys who sustain their careers, are guys who play all three formats or have at least played all three formats, whether it's international or domestic. Just because you understand yourself in the game. I think for myself specifically, I still judge myself on how good my technique is under the moving ball.
"When you're a school kid, you want to be the best cricketer, not just one-format cricketer. Obviously, noticing these days that single-format cricketers are starting to happen more often than not. I still feel that in order to have a prolonged career, you need to be able to do all three formats at some point in your career," de Kock said.
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