West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard was taken by surprise with Quinton de Kock’s decision not to take a knee to support the Black Lives Matter movement during the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE.
South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock made himself unavailable for the match against West Indies due to personal reasons. Later on, it was revealed that he denied taking a knee to support the BLM movement, which support the racial equality.
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Kieron Pollard mentioned he was surprised after learning about De Kock’s decision to not kneel.
“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 their second consecutive defeat 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 have 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,” Pollard added.
When asked whether his friendship will be affected with De Kock as both as teammates in Mumbai Indians, Pollard refused to “speculate” before getting into the truth of the matter.
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“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,” he said.
“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.”
West Indies will be playing Bangladesh in their next match on October 29 in Sharjah while South Africa will face Sri Lanka on October 30 in Sharjah.
