South Africa’
South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock and his wife became parents to a baby girl on Thursday. De Kock’s former IPL franchise Mumbai Indians took to Twitter to make the announcement
De Kock was going to miss the last two Tests against India expecting the birth of his child. However, after South Africa lost the first Test in Centurion, de Kock announced shock retirement from Tests.
Heartiest congratulations to Quinton and Sasha for the birth of their daughter Kiara 👶😍
Best wishes from #OneFamily 😇💙#MumbaiIndians @QuinnyDeKock69 pic.twitter.com/isBTZLi7zQ
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) January 6, 2022
Upon learning the news of their expected child, quite a few cricketers, including India’s Suryakumar Yadav, de Kock’s Mumbai Indian’s teammate, and South Africa cricketers Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel posted congratulatory comments.
De Kock is a part of the South African team that is set to face Ireland in an away series, which gets underway from July 11 in Dublin. Comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is, the limited-overs series will run until July 24, after which the team is expected to face Sri Lanka in a series that has been due since last year after being struck by Covid-19.
Quinton de Kock’s impressive recent run
Meanwhile, de Kock was in staggering form in the multi-format series against the West Indies recently. He scored a match-winning, unbeaten 141 in the first Test at Gros Islet that the visitors won by an innings and 63 runs, and followed it by a 96-run knock in the second, assisting his team to wrap up a 2-0 clean sweep through a 158-run victory.
With scores of 37, 26, 72, and 60 each in the last two games of the subsequent five-match T20I series, de Kock tallied 255 runs at an impressive average of 51, as his team ended up winning 3-2.
Prior to the West Indies tour, de Kock was active for the Mumbai Indians in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. He missed the team’s opening game against Royal Challengers Bangalore for he was serving quarantine upon his arrival to India after leaving South Africa’s home series against Pakistan midway for his IPL duties. In the six fixtures in the 2021 season, he amassed 155 at 31.
The league was halted due to a spate of Covid-19 cases across different bio-bubbles across two cities. Although, it is set to resume in September in the UAE, before the T20 World Cup.
