Quinton de Kock was roped in for his base price of INR 1 crore.
Mumbai Indians (MI) owner Akash Ambani explained the main reason behind South Africa’s Quinton de Kock bagging a deal with the franchise during the IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (December 16).
The wicketkeeper-batter, who registered for the auction a bit late, was roped in for his base price of INR 1 crore.
Speaking to the broadcaster midway through the proceedings, Ambani revealed that De Kock shares a healthy rapport with Rohit Sharma, and this played a part in the left-hander’s acquiring.
It is pertinent to mention here that de Kock is no stranger to the MI dressing room, as he spent three years with the franchise from 2019 to 2021. Last year, he represented KKR but the three-time champions released him ahead of the mini-auction.
“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,” said Akash.
“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,” he added.
With Quinton returning to MI, it will be interesting to see who opens alongside Rohit in the IPL 2026 season. The five-time champions have another opening option in the form of Ryan Rickelton, who started the innings with Rohit in the last IPL edition.
“Not to discount that his relationship with Ryan was a big factor in what we said, you know, growing up, Ryan idolised Quinton,” Akash stated.
“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,” he remarked.
Besides Quinton de Kock, Mumbai Indians also roped in Atharva Ankolekar, Mohammad Izhar, and Danish Malewar in the mini-auction.
MI squad for IPL 2026 season: Hardik Pandya, AM Ghazanfa, Ashwani Kuma, Corbin Bosc, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande, Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Shardul Thakur, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Trent Boult, Will Jacks, Danish Malewar, Quinton de Kock, Atharva Ankolekar, Mayank Rawat, Mohammad Izhar.