Quinton de Kock slams 3rd IPL ton on Mumbai Indians return, raises question on Tilak Varma’s place

Quinton de Kock has made quite an impact on his return to the Mumbai Indians (MI), scoring a century in his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) game against the Punjab Kings. The South African keeper-batter, who was a part of KKR in IPL 2025, was released by the franchise and was bought by the five-time champions for Rs 1 crore and replaced Rohit Sharma in the playing XI in the game against Punjab Kings.

de Kock shines bright on comeback for MI

Making his first appearance for MI in IPL 2026, de Kock slammed 101 off 53 deliveries, boasting of a strike rate of 190.57. He made the most of replacing Rohit in MI’s playing XI as he impressed with his whirlwind knock at the top of the order.

de Kock was an integral part of MI between 2019 to 2021, where he amassed 1329 runs, emerging as one of the franchise’s best batters. Thereafter, he fared poorly in the next three seasons that followed, failing to go past the 300-run mark. After announcing his retirement from a white-ball format, de Kock reversed his decision and decided to come back to international cricket in 2025.

Rohit Sharma suffered a hamstring injury in the previous game against RCB and retired hurt mid-way through the run-chase. Although scans did not reveal any significant damage, the Hitman has been ruled out for at least a couple of games in IPL 2026. He also missed the team’s net sessions before the game against PBKS, although he was spotted on the field on Thursday.

Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first against MI. Ryan Rickleton was the first MI batter to depart as he managed to score just 2 out of 8 balls. Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for a golden duck, as the Indian T20I skipper’s woeful form ensued. Naman Dhir stitched together a 122-run partnership with de Kock to steady the ship for the five-time champions before he was sent packing by Shashank Singh.

de Kock’s knock puts pressure on Tilak Varma, who has underperformed in this season thus far. In four games, he has only managed to register scores of 20, 0, 14 and 1. With de Kock shining with a century, Varma’s place in MI’s playing XI comes under scrutiny as even if Rohit Sharma returns, the team might look to have an in-form de Kock in the playing XI rather.

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