Quinton de Kock opens up on not taking a knee in T20 WC 2021

Quinton de Kock landed in a major controversy during the T20 World Cup 2021. It led to him missing a game during the Super 12 stages of the tournament as well. He had refused to take a knee, which was made compulsory by his board, in order to show support towards the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

It is to be noted that during the tournament, the South African players were asked by their board to take a knee ahead of every game of the tournament. As the keeper-batter refused to do the same, he didn't feature during the match between South Africa and West Indies. This led to him being severely criticized.

Yet, the Proteas keeper-batter publicly apologized and was then seen performing the gesture in the remaining games. De Kock recently drew light on the incident. He also took a dig at Cricket South Africa, and felt that they could have done things differently.

“I would not have done anything differently. We all stand by what we believe in. I know how I am. I know I’m not a bad person. I’ve got nothing to hide. That’s why I wasn’t scared. I think the board members, or whoever gave that directive (to compulsorily take a knee), could have done things differently, not just smack dab in the middle of a World Cup the morning before a game. The pressure was thrown onto the players, which was unnecessary. We had a lot of youngsters in the team," said Quinton de Kock, as quoted by The Times of India.

Further on, he stated that they are not only cricketers, but also influencers. De Kock also spoke about how there are some people who are actually making contributions behind closed doors, but aren't getting the recognition like those who express their opinion on social media.

“We’re cricketers but we are also at the same time influencers. Maybe we can’t change much in the communities, but we can help share awareness. There are a lot of people watching us, watching our Instagram, social media, so where we can help out as influencers, we try. But then a lot of players also don’t like doing things on social media, they like getting out and doing the hard yards behind closed doors. I’ve seen guys get more applause for a post than the guys who are actually going out and making a difference. The communities we help, they can see what’s going on,” he added.