Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) Playing his first match for the Mumbai Indians, Quinton de Kock smashed a brilliant century and shared a 123-run partnership with Naman Dhir (50) as the hosts posted a challenging 195/6 against the Punjab Kings in Match 24 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

De Kock, who was left on the bench for the first four matches of the season as Mumbai decided to got with the younger wicketkeeper-batter Ryan Rickelton, made the most of the opportunity to score 112 not out, becoming only the third player to score centuries for three different IPL teams. He joined KL Rahul and Sanju Samson when he reached the three-figure mark in 53 balls on Thursday.

With Rohit Sharma missing the match after failing to fully recover from a hamstring injury he suffered in the previous match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the Mumbai Indians went in with a new opening pair as Quinton de Kock partnered his South African compatriot, Rickelton.

But the move did not work, and the Mumbai Indians soon got into trouble at 12/2 with Arshdeep Singh landing twin blows off successive balls, sending back Rickelton and India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav for a first-ball duck. Rickelton (2) was the first to go, smashing a length-ball on his pads straight down the throat of Shashing Singh at deep backward square leg. He was Arshdeep Singh’s 100th victim in the IPL 87th match.

The lanky left-arm medium pacer made it 101 wickets when he swung one off the length, and Suryakuamr Yadav drove it straight to Yuzvendra Chahal.

Quinton de Kock and Naman Dhir then changed the complexion of the match with the South African opener smashing a brilliant century off 53 balls, hitting seven boundaries and as many sixes, reaching his century in his first match for the Mumbai Indians.

De Kock found a good partner in Naman Dhir as they raised 123 runs for the third wicket partnership, helping the Mumbai Indians recover from a precarious s12/2.

De Kock was the more adventurous and made the most of the run-out opportunity that Shreyas Iyer missed, unable to execute a direct hit. QDK, who started with a superb six off the first ball he aced, reached his fifty off 28 balls. He was quite severe on Chahal, smashing him for a couple of sixes off the mystery spinner.

Naman Dhir, who was promoted to No.4 and enjoyed a slice of luck, put down by Chahal early in his knock, hammered a half-century, making the most of his chance. He smashed Vijaykumar Vyshak for the two fours and a six off the last over of Power-play. They then smashed Chahal for two sixes and a four as they raised 100 runs off their partnership. Dhir completed his fifty off.

De Kock continued to prosper; he stepped up a gear after completing his half-century, smashing Shashank Singh for back-to-back sixes and reaching the three-figure mark in 53 balls, smashing seven fours and as many sixes in his superb knock.

Mumbai lost skipper Hardik Pandya (14 of 12), to a spectacular catch orchestrated by PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer, who leapt into the air, caught the ball with the tip of his left hand, exchanged it to his throwing arm and lobbed it in inside the field while in air outside the rope for Xavier Bartlett to complete the catch. The sensation catch, which he celebrated in front of his home crowd animatedly, would be listed among the best of this season and helped PBKS restrict Mumbai Indians to below 200..

While trying to force the pace, Sherfane Rutherford fell cheaply for one, as Arshdeep Singh disturbed his stumps for his third wicket of the night.

De Kock continued to hold one end up and, despite losing Tilak Varma in the final over to a runout, helped the team finish close to the 200-run mark.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 195/6 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 112 not out, Naman Dhir 50; Arshdeep Singh 3-22) against Punjab Kings

–IANS

bsk/