Mumbai Indians bought Quinton de Kock for INR 1 crore.
Mumbai Indians (MI) entered the IPL 2026 auction with the lowest purse ever, having only INR 2.75 crore to spend. They had the most settled squad and bought only five players, including Quinton de Kock for INR 1 crore.
Quinton wasn’t part of the auction before, but MI reportedly requested him to enrol his name at a lower base price at the last minute. They wanted another wicketkeeper-batter, apart from Ryan Rickelton, in the squad and had a small budget to fill the slot.
Hence, their options were limited since most overseas ones in this category had a base price of INR 1.50 crore or higher. As expected, Mumbai Indians went for Quinton de Kock without any double thoughts and grabbed him at his base price of INR 1 crore.
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Mumbai Indians were eager to get Quinton de Kock at the auction, but they might have made an error with this acquisition. While de Kock has returned to the international arena and played a few quality knocks, his consistency has been a major concern for some time now.
Since 2024, he has 2450 runs at an average of 25.78 and a strike rate of 136.87 in 100 innings, including 19 fifties and a century. Clearly, he has struggled to score consistently, even if a few big knocks have come sporadically.
In IPL, the southpaw’s numbers are even worse: 402 runs at an average of 22.33 and a strike rate of 132.67 in 19 innings, with four fifties. These stats were the biggest reason why he was on the verge of going unsold before MI showed interest and bought him.
If MI wanted a wicketkeeper-batter at INR 1 crore, Jonny Bairstow could have been a better option than Quinton de Kock. He joined them as a temporary replacement last season and did reasonably well with the bat in two games.
Additionally, Bairstow has been a bit more consistent than Quinton this year, even if he hasn’t regained his best mode yet. He has 878 runs at an average of 33.76 and a strike rate of 149.06 in 30 innings, with three fifties and a century, this year.
Bairstow also gave them the flexibility to be used in the middle order since he had done this job before, which could have allowed them to maximise Will Jacks’ potential at the top. In Rickelton and Quinton, MI don’t give themselves flexibility at all; they both work well only as openers, similar to Jacks.
Bairstow can whack pacers and brings a decent skill set against spinners – making him a decent option in the middle, somewhere at No.5. He could have acted as another shield for Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma, who have shown obvious issues with back-of-length deliveries into the body against pacers.
Now, MI will be forced to play Sherfane Rutherford, who can easily be confined with wide lines and off-spin bowling. Even if they wanted to start with Rutherford, Bairstow could have been a better backup in case Rickelton, whose form has tapered lately, continued to remain unimpressive.
In the Indian department, Mumbai Indians have only Robin Minz in the wicketkeeper-batter section. Minz hasn’t developed as well as initially expected, and he might not be ready to act as the main wicketkeeper-batter in an IPL XI.
He played two games for MI last season and was underwhelming. Obviously, he is a great talent, but IPL brings a different dimension, and he can’t play in the main XI for now.
Now, Mumbai Indians will be forced to shuffle between Ryan Rickelton and Quinton de Kock, both of whom have consistency issues and don’t provide flexibility. Maybe they made a tactical mistake in filling the wicketkeeper-batter slot.
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