Quinton De Kock Narrowly Misses MS Dhoni's Incredible Feat, Slams 174 Runs to Smash Numerous Records

Quinton de Kock registered his highest individual score in the ODI World Cup, as he smashed 174 runs against Bangladesh at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday. De Kock missed a well-deserved hundred however, he etched his name in the history books, by becoming the player with the highest score by a specialist wicketkeeper batter in the 48-year-old history of the World Cup.

The previous best score by a wicketkeeper batter was Adam Gilchrist’s knock of 149 runs the Australian legend scored in the 2007 World Cup final. Quinton de Kock however surpassed that feat with his stellar effort in 140 balls, including 15 boundaries and seven sixes.

There were numerous other records that De Kock surpassed before he was dismissed by Hasan Mahmud as the Proteas batter walked back to the dugout receiving a standing ovation from the entire Wankhede Stadium.

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The 30-year-old is the youngest South African player in history to slam 20 ODI centuries, surpassing his compatriot AB de Villiers.

It was the third century from Quinton on his 150th ODI appearance, at the ongoing World Cup. He needed 100 balls to reach the three-figure mark, and became the only South African player with most hunderds in a single edition of the tournament.

The wicketkeeper-batter had earlier scored centuries in the first two matches of the tournament, against Sri Lanka and Australia.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma has the highest number of centuries in a single edition of the World Cup, with five tons in 2019, he is followed by Kumar Sangakkara who hit four tons in 2015, while De Kock equalled Mark Waugh, Matthew Hayden and Sourav Ganguly’s feat of smashing three centuries in a single edition of the tournament.

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Interestingly, Quinton played in the 2015 and 2019 World Cup but he had failed to smash even a single century in the last two editions, but he has set the stage on fire in the 2023 edition.

De Kock narrowly missed MS Dhoni’s record as the highest score by a designated wicketkeeper in ODI cricket. Dhoni had smashed 183 against Sri Lanka in Jaipur in 2005, while De Kock recorded the second-highest total himself against Australia scoring 178 in Centurion, in 2016.

His latest knock ranks fourth on the all-time highest scores by wicketkeeper batters in ODI cricket, while he smashed the second-highest individual score by a South Africa cricketer in the World Cup, behind only Gary Kirsten who smashed 188 vs UAE in Rawalpindi in 1996.

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De Kock also has the most 150-plus scores by designated wicketkeepers in ODI history, having crossed the 150-mark three times, only Hashim Amla has more 150-plus scores (4) than de Kock among South African batters.