South African wicket-keeper batsman, Quinton De Kock does not prefer to wear the external leg pads while wicket-keeping as he often wears the internal smaller pads. He did not play in the first game for Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2021 as he had to be quarantined after returning from the series against Pakistan. Chris Lynn made his debut for Mumbai in his place and scored a good knock of 49 off 35 balls.
De Kock was available for the second match and was featured in the playing XI as Lyn made way for him, but De Kock was dismissed for just 2 runs off 6 deliveries against KKR. Quinton De Kock’s method of wearing internal small pads inside the pants instead of the external leg pads plays a crucial role for him. It has bettered his movement and agility behind the stumps and has also increased the possibilities of effecting a run-out. The law does not make it compulsory for the keeper to wear external leg pads.
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It has also reduced a lot of byes and leg byes for his franchise as QDK has managed to make comfortable movements and has facilitated him to go for some difficult catches which weren’t easy with the external pads. The numbers have been very good for Quinton De Kock behind the stumps as he has taken 47 catches and effected 13 stumpings and also has the highest dismissal per game ratio of 1 among all the current wicket keepers.
In recent times, a lot of wicket-keepers have been seen wearing internal pads instead of the regular external leg pads. We have already seen in the women’s cricket when England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor was wearing shin pads and it did happen in the IPL before with Heinrich Klassen when he used to play for the Rajasthan team. One of the greatest wicket keepers of all time, MS Dhoni has experimented with them in the World Cup too.
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Unless it is under the laws and has been very effective, certainly the keepers will have thoughts of changing their traditional way into wearing internal pads.
