Quinton de Kock scored a century in 96 balls.Image Credit source: PTI
PAK vs SA: The wait for veteran Pakistani batsman Babar Azam to score a century is not ending. Babar Azam has not scored a century in international cricket for the last three years. Even in the ODI series against South Africa, Babar has failed in 2 consecutive matches. But while Babar is failing, South Africa’s star batsman Quinton de Kock, who returned from retirement, scored a century. In the second match of the ODI series against Pakistan, De Kock defeated the Pakistani bowlers and scored a century in international cricket after more than 2 years.
Babar Azam’s wait is not over
In the second match of the ODI series in Faisalabad, Pakistan, batting first, scored 269 runs. While 3 batsmen scored half-centuries from Pakistan, Babar Azam again failed miserably and was out after scoring only 11 runs. This was Babar’s 80th consecutive innings in international cricket, in which he could not score a century. His last century came in December 2022. But meanwhile, Quinton de Kock, who retired from ODI cricket, made a comeback after 2 years and now scored a century as well.
De Kock scored a century by hitting sixes and fours
Quinton de Kock made an 81-run partnership with young opener Luan Drie Pretorius and then took the innings forward with Tony DeGeorge. During this partnership, De Kock completed his brilliant century by taking 2 runs in the 31st over. The left-handed batsman scored this memorable century in 96 balls and announced a successful comeback in this format. During this innings, De Kock thrashed the Pakistani bowlers and hit 7 fours and 6 sixes before reaching his century.
beat pakistan easily
De Kock played an unbeaten inning of 123 runs in just 119 balls and returned with a one-sided victory for the team by 8 wickets. In his innings he hit 8 fours and 7 sixes. Apart from him, Djorji also scored 76 runs in 63 balls and South Africa easily achieved the target of 270 runs in just 40.1 overs and leveled the series 1-1.
Took retirement 2 years ago
This is 32-year-old De Kock’s 22nd century in ODI cricket and thus he equaled Sourav Ganguly, Tillakaratne Dilshan and David Warner. Also, he reached 10th position among the batsmen who scored the most centuries in ODIs. This is De Kock’s first century in international cricket in 2 years. His previous century came against New Zealand in Pune on 1 November in the World Cup 2023. He retired from ODI cricket only after this World Cup. But just a few weeks ago, he changed his decision and made a comeback and scored 63 runs in the first ODI against Pakistan.