Quinton de Kock

Famously known as Quinny by cricket fans, Quinton de Kock is a wicketkeeper-batsman who plays for the South Africa national cricket team in all formats of the game. He also plays for Titans at the domestic level and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In his childhood, De Kock played baseball but was eventually convinced by his father to

pursue cricket. During his school days in King Edward VII School, he was spotted and included in the Under-19 squad of South Africa. In the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, he finished as the highest scorer of South Africa with 284 runs in 6 matches.

De Kock made his senior career debut in October 2009 for the Gauteng team in a List A match. He stepped into the international scene in December 2012 in a T20I match against New Zealand. He joined Highveld Lions in 2012-13 season and Titans in 2015. De Kock’s IPL debut came in 2013 for Sunrisers Hyderabad and, in 2014, became the most expensive wicket-keeper in the auction when Delhi Daredevils bought him for 3.5 Crore INR. He then moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 and Mumbai Indians in 2019. He has also played in the Mzansi Super League tournament for the Cape Town Blitz squad.

Here are some of his major career achievements:

• He is the third fastest batsman (jointly) to score 1000 runs in ODIs (as of April 2021), achieving it in 21 innings.
• In February 2020, De Kock became the fastest South African cricketer to score a half-century in T20Is, achieving the feat in just 17 balls.
• De Kock scripted a world record in January 2020 by becoming the fastest wicketkeeper to take 200 Test wickets (45 matches), shattering the record of Adam Gilchrist (47 matches).
• During a Test against Sri Lanka in 2018, he became the then fastest wicketkeeper to take 150 test dismissals (in 34 matches), which Tim Paine later broke in 2020.
• At Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Annual Awards in 2017, De Kock scooped five major titles, including the South African Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year, SA Players’ Player of the Year and SA Fans’ Player of the Year titles.
• During the first ODI of Australia tour of South Africa in September 2016, De Kock became the second-highest individual run-scorer in an innings as a wicketkeeper by scoring 178 runs in 113 balls.
• He tops the list of Most Dismissals in an innings in ODIs with six dismissals, captured in an ODI during the South Africa tour of New Zealand in October 2014.
• De Kock became the fastest South African cricketer to reach 1000 ODI runs in the 2^nd ODI during the South Africa tour of Zimbabwe on 19^th August 2014.