De Kock, Delhi and the IPL fishbowl

There is a confident presence behind the stumps for the Delhi Daredevils this season. It is that of baby-faced Quinton de Kock, who can be seen marshalling the fielders at different moments of any given match.

He is not the captain, of course – just the one entrusted with getting the angles right and those empty spaces covered.

And from his vantage point – both on the field and off – de Kock is wary of his Daredevils' maintaining their focus amid a frenzy of support and fanfare the like of which he has never experienced outside the IPL.

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Sitting pretty inside the top four at the halfway stage of their campaign after three years spent just about anchored to the foot of the competition table, the Daredevils are in unfamiliar territory.

"Hopefully we can get (to the play-offs) after the good first half we have had," de Kock told cricket.com.au.

"Then of course, we will re-assess.

"A tournament like this has different stages, and you have to take it day by day. So, right now, it is about qualifying for the play-offs. We need to keep things simple and stay calm as a group as well as individually."

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"It is easier said than done though," de Kock added. "Unlike international cricket, finding personal space during the IPL is very tough, because there are just so many photograph and selfie requests to cater to.

"There is just too much attention because obviously this is an important tournament for the people here. But it is nothing like I have seen anywhere else."

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De Kock has been a part of this franchise since 2014, but from this season, he has taken a senior role. It is due to the influx of many Indian youngsters in the Delhi squad, interspersed with the right mix of experience. And the 23-year-old South African feels he is a bridge between the two.

"It is about comfort and sharing that with the youngsters as well as the seniors, and not about the age," de Kock said.

"The young players in this squad feel the same about me as I feel about them. Obviously I have played a lot more games already at the international level, so it is about sharing my experience, and they try to find confidence from that as well. They want to talk about how I got where I am in my career, and there is a definite comfort that we share with one another."

The dressing room could almost be imagined to be a classroom then. A bunch of under-25 players having fun while going about their business, while a few have been charged with maintaining focus of the entire group by the headmaster.

And the Daredevils boast a particularly decorated principal, in the form of Rahul Dravid, who is doubling up here as mentor after his stint in the past year as India's junior coach.

"It is very easy to listen to him," said de Kock. "You don't always run into coaches who have played the game, especially batting coaches.

"Rahul Dravid has played the game, for long, and he knows what he is talking about. He understands how the game works, and he makes us comfortable, giving us the freedom to express ourselves on the field."

The young keeper-batsman did so against the Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this IPL season, smacking 108 off 51, as the Daredevils chased in stunning fashion. It was an innings laced with 15 fours and three sixes, not a blitzkrieg, but a classical knock in every sense of the word. Never mind the format, it adhered to de Kock's usual approach towards batting.

"I am not a big six-hitter and I prefer to find the gaps," he said about the first hundred scored in this 2016 IPL.

"Batting up the order helps me use the pace of the fast bowlers and it helps me get boundaries, which is better than playing spinners for a single run I think.

"From the start of the innings, the whole team thought that total was achievable. It wasn't just me alone, but all boys thought that 190-odd was a par score on that small ground in Bangalore."

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It was the victory that has set up the Daredevils' good season so far, a reversal of fortune from the recent past with the youth-first policy paying off. At the time of writing, Delhi are placed third in the standings, with 10 points from nine matches.

The last couple of games have seen them trip up, thanks to a mix of umpteen selection changes and poor fielding. But the 'senior' statesman was keen to defend his teammates in Mohali, after a second loss in three days.

"We were quite sloppy in the field, but you cannot always restrict the opposition to 120," he concluded after the loss to the Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.

"Also, we have played a lot of cricket lately, so they just needed some time off. We are only halfway through our campaign at the moment, so we're just making sure we don't have any injuries at the wrong times."

As such, the realistic aim for the Daredevils remains a qualification spot. Sixteen is the magic number they need to hit, the usual safety barrier for the knockouts, and Delhi are potentially three wins away from that mark.