Mumbai Indians New Recruit Shines With the Bat in SA20, Strengthens Case for a Playing XI Spot in IPL 2026

Mumbai Indians new recruit wicketkeeper batter Quinton de Kock played a match winning knock in the SA20 2026 against Pretoria Capitals at St George’s Park, Gqeberha.

Quinton de Kock Leads Sunrisers Eastern Cape with the Bat

In the match, Sunrisers Eastern Cape batted first, with Quinton de Kock opening the innings alongside Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow got out for a low score, but de Kock and Matthew Breetzke built a 116-run partnership for the second wicket. After that, de Kock was dismissed. The South African wicketkeeper-batter scored 77 runs off 47 balls, including five fours and six sixes, and batted at a strike rate of 163.83.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape scored ended up scoring 188/6 in 20 overs, with Breetzke adding 52 and Jordan Hermann scoring 32. De Kock has made an impressive start to the SA20 2026 season. In the previous match against Paarl Royals, he scored 42, and in two matches so far, he has scored 119 runs.

In reply, Pretoria Capitals were bowled out for just 140, as Sunrisers won the match by 48 runs. In the bowling department, Adam Milne took four wickets, Tharindu Rathnayake took two, while Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, and Lewis Gregory took one wicket each. With this win, Sunrisers Eastern Cape have now won both their matches in the new season.

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Lowered Base Price Helps Mumbai Indians Secure the Deal

Quinton de Kock did not have a good year with the bat in 2025, but things have changed since he reversed his retirement from ODI cricket. In ODIs since then, he has scored two fifties and two centuries. In the T20I series as well, he scored 90 in the third match and 65 in the fifth match. At the IPL 2026 auction, he was bought by Mumbai Indians for INR 1 crore, which was his base price. His name was not in the first list of registered players, but he registered later.

Normally, his base price would have been INR 2 crore, but this time he lowered it to INR 1 crore. Mumbai Indians, who had only INR 2.75 crore left in their purse, bid for him, and no other team showed interest. Earlier, he was part of Mumbai Indians from 2019 to 2021, where he scored over 500 runs in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Given his current form, he is making a strong case for the opening spot in the playing XI alongside Rohit Sharma.

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