Quinton de Kock overcomes fear of the big stage with a ton to start ...

Quinton de Kock is one of the standout stars of South African cricket in the previous decade, having debuted in late 2013 in an incredible fashion by slamming three consecutive centuries in an ODI series against India at home. Tipped to achieve greatness right from the offset, de Kock's career has largely blown hot and cold.

Put his exemplary talent and potential aside, the southpaw has been unable to win over the big stage for a consistent period of time. There was a phase in the middle when the captaincy pressure bogged him down, whilst there have been other times when he has sprung a surprise by reiterating that he wants to be relieved of his duties for the national team.

At 30, it is hard to comprehend why a player of de Kock's quality and stature has already hung his boots from Test cricket. Further, the player has confirmed that this World Cup will be his final assignment in ODI cricket for the national team. The swashbuckling opener, who has a Rs 6.75 crore contract with the Lucknow Super Giant (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), instead wants to try his luck in T20 franchise leagues across the world - purely for monetary reasons.

"T20 events - I am not going to deny that there is a lot of money and coming to the end of your career, guys want to get their final top-up before their career finishes. Any normal person would do it anyway," de Kock said, underlining the objective behind his decision. "My body says I'm 40. My id (card) says I'm 31 and I still mentally try to act like I'm a 20-year-old all the time," he had further opened up on his prevalent physical and mental condition recently.

An average of 45.15 with 18 centuries in the ODIs is a clear testament to the bundles of talent and quality at his disposal. When de Kock gets going, neither pacers nor spinners stand a chance to cause him any troubles, as was evident by his incredible ton against Sri Lanka. Slamming 12 boundaries and three maximums, the player raced to the milestone at a strike rate of 119.05.

This World Cup has handed the batter an important opportunity to wipe off the demons of his poor returns in multi-nation tournaments. Prior to this knock, de Kock averaged 31.05 at a strike rate of 81.13 with five half-centuries and no centuries in 20 innings in ICC ODI events. The big stage inspires certain players to elevate their game to a laudable level. Whereas for others, the responsibility that comes with these events turns out to be just too much to handle. De Kock seems to have fallen in the latter category until now.

Will he bring curtains down to his ODI career by overturning that notion? Only time will tell.