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South African batter Quinton de Kock is just 44 runs away from becoming the fifth player to complete 7,000 runs in ODIs from his team as his side takes on Pakistan in a series decider on Saturday.
The series between Pakistan, the hosts and South Africa is split 1-1, with the decider taking place at Faisalabad on Saturday. During the last match, QDK slammed his 22nd century in the 50-over format, taking SA to an eight-wicket win with an unbeaten 123* during run-chase of 270 runs at Faisalabad. Earlier in the first ODI, he had slammed a 71-ball 63 in his side's two-wicket loss, playing his first ODI after retiring from the format after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and reversing his white-ball retirement in September. While his T20I return was poor, with scores of 1 (against Namibia), 7, 23 and 0 (against Pakistan), the left-hander continues from where he had left off in the 2023 World Cup, during which he slammed four centuries. In 157 ODIs and innings, De Kock has scored 6,956 runs at an average of 46.68, with 22 centuries and 31 fifties and a best score of 178. He is his side's sixth-highest run-getter in the format. His immediate target would be to overtake former captain Graeme Smith (6,989 runs in 196 ODIs with 10 centuries) to enter into top-five run-getters for his side. All-rounder Jacques Kallis is the top run-getter in ODIs for the Proteas, scoring 11,150 runs in 323 matches at an average of 45.11, with 17 centuries and 86 fifties in 309 innings and best score of 139, followed by AB de Villiers (9,427 runs in 223 matches at an average of 54.17 with 25 centuries) and Hashim Amla (8,113 runs in 181 matches at an average of 49.46, with 27 centuries and 39 fifties) in the top three. During the previous match, de Kock had also overtaken ex-opener Herschelle Gibbs (21 ODI tons) to become the fourth-highest ODI century-getter for SA. Squads: South Africa Squad: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Quinton de Kock(w), Tony de Zorzi, Matthew Breetzke(c), Sinethemba Qeshile, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Bjorn Fortuin, Nandre Burger, Nqabayomzi Peter, Lizaad Williams, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman, Rubin Hermann Pakistan Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Salman Agha, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi(c), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Faisal Akram, Haseebullah Khan, Hasan Nawaz. (ANI)
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