Mumbai, April 17 Former Australia captain Aaron Finch believes the reason behind Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Quinton de Kock’s calm and composed century against the Punjab Kings (MI) is that he is at peace with his career, which allows him to play without the burden of expectations.
De Kock was not the first-choice opener for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026; he got the opportunity to play against PBKS after Rohit Sharma was rested for the match due to injury. Despite coming as a replacement, De Kock played an unbeaten knock of 112 runs.
“The difference between Quinton de Kock and somebody else coming in in that position, where you’ve been sitting on the bench, is that he’s probably pretty content with his career. He’s thinking, you know what, I’m going to be back-up most likely. He gets an opportunity when Rohit gets injured. So he comes in, and he’s just relaxed, he’s calm. His heart rate doesn’t seem to be above 60 too often. Nothing seems to faze him," Finch said on ESPNCricinfo.
“So that just goes to show a guy who’s really at peace with where his career’s at compared to somebody else who might think, you know what, I need to get runs today to maybe get another opportunity.
“So he’s able to be a bit more free-flowing and just back his skill and not get too overawed by that situation or what’s down the track,” he added.
Despite De Kock's ton, MI were not able to cross the 200-run mark and set a target of 196 runs for PBKS, which they chased down easily in just 16.3 overs.
--IANS
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