Quinton de Kock's Six Knocks Over a TV Set in MI Practice — IPL 2026

The areas behind the practice net at Wankhede are, on a normal matchday, full of broadcast and franchise infrastructure: tripods for cameras, monitors for replay analysis, hospitality signage, mobile lockers for kit. The standard practice for ball boys during middle practice is to position themselves around the perimeter and field stray balls; catching is encouraged, but the practice environment is more crowded than match conditions and the angles are unfamiliar.

De Kock, a left-hander known for his clean straight hitting, had hit several balls into the backstop area earlier in the same session. The ball boy who attempted the leaping catch had been moving with the trajectory across that whole sequence and had presumably anticipated where the next big hit would land. He guessed correctly. He just did not jump high enough and chose his line a foot and a half wrong.

MI's practice sessions during the 2026 home leg had been busy and tightly choreographed. The franchise's coaching staff, looking to lift a struggling campaign, had emphasised middle practice over net work, with batters facing live bowling on the actual square. The trade-off was that more balls escaped the practice perimeter and the back-of-net staff had more work than usual.

De Kock had been one of MI's bright spots in an otherwise mixed season and was visibly enjoying his session. The straight six was the kind of shot he plays naturally; he had not even followed through with the eye-tracking that batters sometimes do when checking on a stray hit. He was already setting up for the next ball when he heard the crash.

The session was a routine afternoon middle practice. De Kock, working through his range against an MI net bowler, was timing the ball cleanly and had hit a series of crisp drives down the ground. The straight six in question came off a length ball that he picked early; the contact was clean and the trajectory took the ball deep over the practice net into the area behind the boundary, where stands of broadcasting equipment, including stationary TV monitors, had been set up earlier in the day.

The ball boy — visible in the broadcast footage as a young man in the standard Wankhede staff polo — saw the ball coming and committed to a leaping catch. The leap was high; the angle was off. He missed the ball by about a foot and a half, and the trailing arm of his leap caught the TV monitor on its stand. The monitor wobbled, tipped, and went down.

The clip is funny because of the symmetry of the failure: the ball, which the ball boy was trying to catch, sailed past his outstretched hand untouched; the TV set, which the ball boy was not trying to catch, took the full force of his attempt. Practice paused. De Kock, watching from the middle, doubled over laughing. The ball boy stood up, brushed himself off, and helped the broadcast staff right the TV. The MI fielding coach, walking over, gave the ball boy what looked from a distance like a small piece of advice and a small piece of consolation.

“I hope the TV is okay. I felt bad. He should have caught it though, no?”

“Even the TV couldn't catch that one.”

“He tried his best. The TV did not. We have a job for him in the broadcast booth.”

The clip was the lightest cricket story of the day and dominated the soft-news rotation on Indian sports television that evening. MI's media team, recognising the goodwill of the moment, posted a short clip on the franchise's Instagram account with the caption "Even the TV couldn't catch that one." The video collected several million views within 24 hours.

The ball boy's name was not made public, in keeping with standard franchise practice on identifying junior staff members. Mahela Jayawardene, MI's head coach, was reported to have sought the young man out the following morning to thank him for trying — a small piece of franchise warmth that circulated separately and added to the overall goodwill of the moment. The TV monitor, more cosmetically dented than functionally damaged, was replaced by MI's broadcast partner before the next morning's session.

De Kock, asked about the moment after MI's match the next day, was characteristically dry: 'I hope the TV is okay. I felt bad. He should have caught it though, no?' The line — the gentle joke at the ball boy's expense — was widely shared and added a follow-up beat to the original clip's life.