Reacting to South Africa batter Quinton de Kock’s decision to pull out of Tuesday’s T20 World Cup match after refusing to take the knee, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said it came as “news” to him and told people not to speculate on the development.
De Kock opted out of the game instead of following CSA’s directive, supporting the 'Black Lives Matter' movement.
“For me, personally, 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 to me,” Pollard said after suffering an eight-wicket loss to South Africa, their 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 whether this development would impact his rapport with De Kock as both are Mumbai Indians teammates in the IPL, Pollard said: “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.”
“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.”
Coming to the match, West Indies suffered an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa. It was the second successive loss for the defending champions in the ongoing T20 World Cup and they have now slipped to the bottom of the Group 1 points table in Super 12.
“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 make up and I was banking on that,” he said.
Asked to bat first, West Indies posted 143/8 in 20 overs, which the Proteas chased down with 10 balls to spare.
“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,” the West Indies captain concluded.
(With PTI inputs)
