Twitter in disbelief on Quinton de Kock's 11th hour pull out from West Indies game over CSA's directive to take a knee

The T20 World Cup 2021 has come with an initiative where players of several countries are taking a knee on the field to mark their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter moment. The players have been doing several gestures on the field to show their fight against racism, however, South Africa’s Quinton De Kock took an otherwise stand ahead of their game against West Indies.

Ahead of SA’s game against West Indies, CSA put out a release asking all the players to take a knee before entering the game. However, De Kock was out of the scene and later and it came to the fore that he has pulled out of the game altogether. It has been noticed in earlier events also that the Protean showed his reluctance on taking the knee.

In fact, during their match against West Indies in June this year, De Kock opened up in a press conference that he wouldn’t like to detail his reasons for the action and added that everybody is allowed to choose what they want to do in life. “My reason? I’ll keep it to myself. It’s my own, personal opinion. It’s everyone’s decision; no one’s forced to do anything, not in life. That’s the way I see things,” he stated earlier.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Quinton de Kock not playing against West Indies

Seeing all the other cricketers of nations taking the stand and considering South Africa’s history, in particular, CSA asked their players to take a knee ahead of the WI clash. It is still not known whether De Kock will continue his journey whether in T20 WC or not. Heinrich Klaasen was given the gloves duty while Reeza Hendricks was called as a replacement opener to fill the void created by De Kock.

“Concerns were raised that the different postures taken by team members in support of the BLM [Black Lives Matter] initiative created an unintended perception of disparity or lack of support for the initiative.

“After considering all relevant issues, including the position of the players, the Board felt that it was imperative for the team to be seen taking a united and consistent stand against racism, especially given South Africa’s history. Several other teams at the World Cup have adopted a consistent stance against the issue, and the Board felt it is time for all SA players to do the same,” read CSA’s release ahead of their clash against West Indies.