South Africa stand-in skipper Aiden Markram believes the soon-to-retire wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock is a "free-spirited guy" who should be allowed "to fly".
The explosive lefthander smashed 174 off 140 balls, his third century in five innings, to propel South Africa to 382/5 against Bangladesh before the Proteas sealed a thumping 149-run win on Tuesday.
De Kock's century was complemented by fifties from Heinrich Klaasen (90; 49b) and Markram (60; 69b) as South Africa racked up 144 in the final 10 overs. “We all know Quinton to be the free-spirited guy that he is, but he actually has a fantastic cricket brain on him,” Markram told reporters in the post-match interaction.
De Kock, who had earlier said he would retire from the ODIs after the World Cup, has now overtaken Virat Kohli (354) to be the leading run-scorer with 407 runs. "And then you never want to clip his wings, really.