Visakhapatnam: South Africa wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock equalled the record of compatriot AB de Villiers for most centuries by a visiting batter in India against India in the third and final ODI of the series at ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam Saturday.
Together with captain Temba Bavuma, de Kock scored 113 runs for the second wicket partnership and then, with Matthew Breetzke, shared a 54-run stand to reach his century off 80 balls in the 30th over of SA’s innings.
De Kock now shares the top position with de Villiers, who has seven centuries under his name ahead of West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who has scored six centuries in India.
The century also saw de Kock drawing level with Sanath Jayasuriya for the most hundreds scored against India in the format. De Kock reached the landmark in just 23 innings, compared to Jayasuriya’s 85. Only three other batters have six ODI centuries each against India: AB de Villiers (32 innings), Ricky Ponting (59 innings), and Kumar Sangakkara (71 innings).
De Kock has amassed 23 ODI hundreds while serving as a designated wicketkeeper. As a designated keeper, he has tied with Kumar Sangakkara, who also hit 23 centuries. Currently, this is the designated keepers’ joint-highest total of hundreds.
In terms of ODI tons, de Kock has surpassed David Warner, Sourav Ganguly, and Tillakaratne Dilshan with his 23rd. In ODIs, Warner, Ganguly, and Dilshan recorded 22 centuries.
Indian bowler Prasidh Krishna removed de Kock just after he reached his hundred, when the batter chose to whip a ball across the line, the ball slammed the stumps, and he was beaten.
After losing the two-Test series 0-2, India won the first ODI by 17 runs in Ranchi before South Africa came back strongly in the second match in Raipur, chasing a 350-plus target to win by four wickets.
IANS
