Social media went buzzing after it was found out that South Africa’s opening batsman and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock has made himself unavailable for the West Indies game, making everyone to believe that he has done so after the CSA (Cricket South Africa) had issued a directive that every player must take knee in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
All the teams in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 has taken part in this worldwide movement as players were captured taking knee before the start of every match, including the India and Pakistan players during the India vs Pakistan match on the 24th October.
However, it is complete different story in the South Africa team’s camp. In South Africa’s opening match in the T20 World Cup 2021 and in several of matches, while all the players took knee, it was only Quinton de Kock who has refused to do so.
Black Lives Matter movement is followed all around the world, including the sports sector, such as in football, cricket and Formula 1 and many more.
🇿🇦 Cricket South Africa (CSA) has noted the personal decision by South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock not to “take the knee” ahead of Tuesday’s game against the West Indies.
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) October 26, 2021
➡️ Full statement: https://t.co/cmEiA9JZy7 pic.twitter.com/4vOqkXz0DX
Cricket South Africa earlier released a statement in which, it was directed that every players must take the knee. And after that, the news came out that Quinton de Kock has made himself unavailable for the West Indies match.
That led to the fans believe that the Quinton de Kock has done so because of the statement. Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik also looked confused with his statement on his Twitter account, in which he stated that De Kock is unavailable for the West Indies clash because of De Kock’s stance on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Quinton de Kock not playing because of his stand on BLM movement 😳#BlackLivesMatter #SAvsWI #worldT20 pic.twitter.com/LqC76QKCL3
— DK (@DineshKarthik) October 26, 2021
As of now, there is no confirmation as to why De Kock is unavailable for the West Indies match. But the circumstances has led to believe that Quinton de Kock is unavailable because of CSA’s directive to take the knee.
South Africa vs West Indies T20 World Cup 2021
For the match against West Indies, Reeza Hendricks has been brought in to open the inning while Heinrich Klaasen will be standing behind the wickets. As of now, it is not clear whether he will be part of the T20 World Cup campaign or not, we can always expect clarification from both the parties.
