After a series of unwanted events, Quinton de Kock has finally returned to the playing XI of the South African cricket team for the clash against Sri Lanka in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Quinton de Kock had pulled out from the first clash against West Indies due to his stand overtaking the knee.
Cricket South Africa had made it mandatory for all the cricketers to take a knee before every game in order to show solidarity with the anti-racism gesture. As de Kock didn’t want to follow the directive, he chose to pull out of the West Indies match. Following this, he received a lot of backlash on social media and was trolled left, right and center.
For the unversed, Quinton de Kock stated that the decision of CSA made him feel as if his “rights were taken away”. He also stated that Black Lives mattered to him right from his childhood and his refusal to kneel down wasn’t to hurt anyone’s sentiments. In a statement released by the CSA later in the day, he apologized and agreed to stand by his team in the anti-racism gesture. He wrote:
“I did not, in any way, mean to disrespect anyone by not playing against the West Indies, especially the West Indies team themselves. We were previously told we had the choice to do what we felt we wanted to do. I chose to keep my thoughts to myself,”
He added:
“I didn’t understand why I had to prove it with a gesture, when I live and learn and love people from all walks of life every day. For me, Black lives have mattered since I was born. Not just because there was an international movement,”
Meanwhile, the star keeper-batsman has now returned back to the playing XI of the team and was also seen taking a part in the BLM moment. Supporters of the BLM campaign were delighted by De Kock taking the knee before the game.
Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati on this:
https://twitter.com/immortalsoulin/status/1454391340364566532?s=20
If
“They forced me” had a face.?
Respect increased for Quinton.#BlackLivesMatter #quintondekock pic.twitter.com/NyqhEWdAaO
— A K S H▲Y ll45??? (@HitmanEraa) October 30, 2021
Quinton de Kock is showing the world what kind of people we have to deal with here in SA.
— Sharné Zoë (@Zoe_SZi) October 26, 2021
Quinton de Kock takes the knee ahead of the clash against Sri Lanka ?? pic.twitter.com/fhzp6T2kyv
— Waqas Amjad ( محترم ) (@waqas_amjaad) October 30, 2021
Quinton de Kock :#SAvSL pic.twitter.com/FxurC1dO9y
— Shayarcaster (@shayarcaster) October 30, 2021
Quinton de Kock took the knee in support of the BLM movement after refusing to do in the previous match. #T20worldcup pic.twitter.com/1AFAMolscP
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) October 30, 2021
That’s actually a violation of an individual’s rights.
— Parikshit Shah (@imparixit) October 30, 2021
Quinton de Kock takes a knee. pic.twitter.com/RnCTqHUGJU
— SA Cricket Magazine (@SACricketmag) October 30, 2021
