South Africa’s star opener Quinton de Kock was dropped on Tuesday’s match against West Indies after he refused to take the knee for the “Black Lives Matter” movement following the demand from CSA.
South African wicket-keeper opener batsmen Quinton de Kock pulled out of Tuesday’s T20 World Cup game after Cricket South Africa made it mandatory for all players to take a knee in support of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said personally and as a team, West Indies feel “Strongly” about the matter and will continue to do their bit to end racism.
Quinton de Kock’s decision in support of the BLM campaign didn’t go well down with him, who in the past had expressed his reluctance to make the gesture.
“I don’t know of any player who didn’t want to take it (take the knee). I’m not aware of that. So this is sort of news to us or me,”
Pollard said after suffering an eight-wicket loss to South Africa, the second consecutive in the Super 12 stage.
“You guys know our thoughts on this matter. It’s something that we feel strongly about as a team and as people as well and we will continue to do it.
“Each and everyone has their own opinions on it, but as I’ve always said, once you’re educated and you understand, we will understand why you are doing it, but I think education sort of is the key, and we don’t want anyone doing it for us in solitude or to feel sorry for us.”
Asked by Pollard that this development would affect his relationship with the de Kock because they both are in the same team in the IPL franchise Mumbai Indian, Pollard said he will comment only when he gets a clear picture about the matter.
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“As I previously said, all I’m hearing is what has happened. I don’t know the truth and fact of the actual matter. “I can’t just take that and have an answer or speculation in terms of relationship and all that. That’s getting too deep at this present time,”
he said.
“Yes, he has been my teammate in Mumbai Indians, we have played cricket together. That’s where the buck stops in terms of everything else. Everything else is speculation. Let’s see what happens after. Let me have an opportunity to digest.”
The defending champions suffered two consecutively losses and now they are in do or die situation for the next tournament matches.
“I thought we left about 20-25 runs out there when we batted, and that could have made a difference in terms of how we finished off,”
Pollard said.
“I also believe that my dismissal in the last over was crucial because we knew they had an over to makeup and I was banking on that,”
he said.
“We have to dig deeper as a team. We have to dig deeper as a batting unit. We have to come out and hold our heads up and try to play a good game of cricket.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where from a run rate perspective that’s pretty low, and from a win percentage we haven’t won any games. So we have to win the next three games,”
he concluded.