Quinton de Kock praises Bjorn Fortuin

Proteas T20I captain Quinton de Kock singled out Bjorn Fortuin as the spinner that impressed him the most during the series draw against India.

The 24-year-old finished 3-51 in the series and a decent economy rate of 7.28. In fact, he was tied at the top of the wicket-takers list at the end of the series.

His contribution to the Proteas’ nine-wicket win was essential, coming in at two crucial phases and successfully doing the job for his captain.

He opened the bowling and conceded just five runs against the explosive pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

Then Fortuin was brought on again in the middle overs and was effective at piling pressure on India by taking out Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer in the 13th over.

Although Tabraiz Shamsi got credit for the way he turned his spell around after going for 12 in his first over and finishing with figures of 1-23, De Kock took the time out to praise Fortuin.

“Obviously Shamsi just does what he does, he’s normally pretty consistent with the way he bowls. But I’m more impressed with Bjorn [Fortuin],” said De Kock.

“An up and coming young spinner for the team… and to come into conditions where we know the India team are very good at playing spin.

“For him to bowl the way he did, he was very clever the way he mixed up his pace and the areas where he bowled.

“I can only praise him [for doing that] at the highest level and I’m very happy for the guy.”