Elite club membership for De Kock ahead of 21st birthday

South Africa's young wicketkeeper-batsman besides becoming only the fifth player to score three straight one-day hundreds, also became the batsman with the highest aggregate in a three-match series.

Five days shy of his 21st birthday, Quinton de Kock ensured himself two gifts.

The wicketkeeper-batsman, by scoring 101 in the third and final one-dayer against India at the Centurion, became only the fifth batsman to score three successive centuries in a One Day Internationals.

De Kock had scored 135 in the opening match in Johannesburg and followed it up with 106 in Durban.

More importantly, his aggregate of 342 runs (@114) is the highest ever in a three-match series.  

Having scored his maiden ODI hundred (112) against Pakistan in November, he now has four in eight matches in less than a month. His three successive hundreds is a significant feat considering it came against India, currently the No 1 team in the shorter format.

Here's a look at the players who preceded him to the feat.

Zaheer Abbas was the first batsman to perform the feat.

The Pakistan legend scored 118 against India in Multan in 1982.

He followed it up with a 105 in Lahore and another 113 in Karachi.

His achievement came at a time when one-dayers were in its infancy.

Saeed Anwar, another Pakistan batsman, was the second player to score three straight hundreds.

The former opener achieved the feat in 1993 at Sharjah.

Anwar began with a 107 against Sri Lanka and followed it up with 131 against the West Indies and another hundred (111) against Sri Lanka, the latter two knocks coming on successive days.

Herschelle Gibbs was the first batsman, and third overall, to get three successive hundreds.

He achieved in the feat back in 2002.

Gibbs began with a 116 against Kenya at Colombo and followed it up with a similar score, albeit unbeaten on this occasion, against India at the same venue five days later.

His third hundred (153) came against Bangladesh at Potchefstroom.

AB de Villiers, the South African ODI captain, was the last batsman to achieve the feat.

Coincidentally, he was at the opposite end when De Kock achieved the milestone in Centurion in the third ODI against India on Wednesday.

De Villiers started with an unbeaten 114 against India in Gwalior (February 2010), in a match where Sachin Tendulkar notched the first one-day double hundred.

He followed it up with an unbeaten 102 in the next match in Ahmedabad and another similar score against the West Indies at Sir Viv Richards Stadium in North Sound (Antigua) completed his hat-trick of hundreds.