Is This the Perfect Return from Retirement by a South African Player?
Returning from retirement has never been easy for the players. But there is Quinton de Kock, who made his comeback look like he was never gone. Playing in the ODI series against Pakistan, it seems that he is ready for the 2027 World Cup.
Returning from retirement has never been easy for the players. But there is Quinton de Kock, who made his comeback look like he was never gone. Playing in the ODI series against Pakistan, it seems that he is ready for the 2027 World Cup.
There are several players who retired and returned back to the game. But all of them have one thing in common, they never found their spark back in the game. This is not the case of Quinton de Kock, who marked his return in style after taking back
Even after being out of the game for two years, he has been magnificent with the bat in the ODI format. Moreover, in the match against Pakistan, he has also managed to break records, which shows that he is ready to be available for the 2027 World Cup. It can also be said that Quinton de Kock has scripted the perfect return story for any player who has retired.
1. ODI Retirement and Comeback
Quinton de Kock last played an ODI game for South Africa in 2023 during the World Cup. He turned out as one of the most valuable players for the team in the tournament, scoring runs for the team when they needed the most. South Africa reached the semi-finals of the tournament, and had to go against Australia.
He announced his retirement after the 2023 World Cup, as fans didn't see him play for the team since then. It should be noted that de Kock had already retired from the Test format in 2021. Later he continued to play in the T20Is, and even had an important role for South Africa to reach the of the T20 World Cup 2024.
In the final match against India, he took the wickets of Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant with his keeping. For chasing the target, Quinton de Kock had a great stand with Tristan Stubbs, but he was only able to score 39 runs off 31 balls. South Africa fell short by 7 runs in the chase, with India winning the final.
2. Pakistan Series
Quinton de Kock made his ODI return for the team in the series against Pakistan. Fans were delighted to have him back to the line-up, and even wanted him to play well for the team. The first ODI match between two teams was played in Faisalabad, as South Africa was batting
Opening for the team along with Lhuan-dre Pretorius, de Kock announced his comeback in style. He went on to score 63 runs in 71 balls for the team, helping them to have a good opening stand. South Africa was able to score 263 runs in their innings, giving a target of 264 runs to Pakistan.
Pakistan was able to chase down the target with 2 wickets and 2 balls remaining. But de Kock also announced his comeback with the gloves, as he stumped Hasan Nawaz. With South Africa losing the first match, de Kock decided to take the center stage in the second
Pakistan batted first in this game and scored 269 runs for the loss of 9 wickets, as de Kock started with the wickets by taking the catch of Fakhar Zaman. In the chase, it was a magnificent show by Quinton de Kock, as he support from Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Tony de Zorzi.
He ended up scoring 123 runs for the team in just 119 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes, helping South Africa to chase the total with 8 wickets remaining. It was his 22nd ODI century, making him among the few ODI batsmen in the country to have scored 22 centuries this format.
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