Quinton de Kock scored maiden IPL century: Daredevils’ opening batsman surprised one and all on the back of his career-best IPL score.
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On this day in 2016, the then Delhi Daredevils wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock registered his maiden century against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 11th match of the ninth edition of the tournament at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
After the then Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan won the toss and invited the hosts in to bat, RCB posted a daunting 191/5 in 20 overs on the back of individual half-centuries from captain Virat Kohli (79) and batsman AB de Villiers (55).
Opening the batting with Shreyas Iyer (0), de Kock witnessed his opening partner getting out without scoring in the first over itself.
Having scored a boundary off Sreenath Aravind on the first ball that he faced, de Kock didn’t let the momentum go waste as he hit three boundaries off RCB all-rounder Parvez Rasool in the next over to nullify Kohli’s tactic of introducing an off-spinner in the powerplay against an overseas left-hand batsman.
By the end of the powerplay, de Kock had raced his way to 34* (16) and keeping DD in the chase despite losing two wickets. de Kock and Karun Nair (54*) then stitched a match-winning 134-run partnership as the visitors sealed the chase in the last over.
De Kock, then 23, continued to find gaps on the off-side especially against RCB’s spinners. Having hit a six off Royal Challengers seamer Harshal Patel in the ninth over, de Kock hit a four off his South African teammate David Wiese in the following over to cross the 50-run mark.
Keeping pace with the required run rate, de Kock didn’t slow down after completing his half-century. It was on the third delivery of the 18th over that he ran a single off Wise to score his maiden IPL century. Having scored 108 (51) with the help of 15 fours and three sixes, de Kock was unequivocally declared the ‘Man of the Match’.
Quinton de Kock scored maiden IPL century
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