Mumbai Indians (MI) owner Akash Ambani said that the real reason for bringing back Quinton de Kock into their squad is the wicketkeeper-batter’s chemistry with former captain Rohit Sharma.
Speaking to the broadcaster, Ambani mentioned De Kock as a “good IPL performer.”
“If you’ve seen, we’ve bid for Quinney in every auction that he’s been available. Even last year, we were bidding against KKR for him. And the real thought process is there’s a real chemistry now between Rohit and Quinney. They were the championship-winning opening pair for us. Yes, it’s been five (four) years later — that’s what I told them when I spoke to both of them. But from my point of view, he’s still very, very, very experienced and a very good IPL performer.”
De Kock was bought by MI for INR 1 crore in the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2026. The South African has previously played for MI across three seasons. In the 2025 season, he was part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The left-hander had a poor season with the Kolkata-based franchise, scoring 152 runs in eight matches at an average of 21.71, which included only one fifty.
Ambani added: “Not to discount that his relationship with Ryan was a big factor in what we said. Growing up, Ryan idolised Quinton. So he was pushing us in the South Africa auction also to open with Quinton, but finally, here now they’re amongst the same team.”
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