Jammu: As India defeated South Africa in the first test by 113 runs rewriting the record books, Proteas wicket keeper and batsman Quinton De Kock has announced his retirement from test cricket with immediate effect.
Quinton De Kock, only 29 years old will now be seen playing only white ball cricket. Announcing his retirement he said that he wants to spend time with his growing family.
Quinton De Kock is expecting the birth of his first child and wants to be there for the child. He said that for him family is everything and he wants to be around his family now.
Looking at the sequence of events and the abrupt announcement of retirement, he has given fodder to rumor mills. Everyone is speculating the reason behind this announcement.
We at Paigaam believe that he was under tremendous pressure after he did not take a knee with his teammates in South Africa’s first match against Australia during T20 world cup this year.
Though he apologized and explained the reason for not taking joining his teammates to take a knee, it did not sit well with most of the cricketers and fans. If reports are to be believed, the dressing room too was not being kind to him anymore.
This had earned him the tag of being a racist and one can only imagine the pressure he must have felt. Even the press had a filed day over this issue. Ex-cricketers from around the world also did not take the incident silently and had a lot to say on the issue.
Then again, the bubble life players have to submit themselves to, only added to his problems. In the past he has mentioned that he was finding it difficult to cope up with the bio bubble guidelines necessitated by Covid-19 pandemic.
The way he batted in the first test against India, it was apparent that his mind was somewhere else. He chopped on the ball to his stumps twice in the match. In the first innings to Shardul Thakur and then to Mohammed Siraj in the second innings. Though he has been bowled before also by edging the ball onto his stumps but it has happened only once off a seamer in the 91 innings he has played and never twice in the same match.
Pertinently, Ben Stokes, England’s star all rounder also took a break from cricket for quite sometime citing mental health as the reason behind the decision blaming the bio bubble lifestyle. And many other sportsmen other than cricketers also have talked openly about the ill effects of bio bubble life they have to subject themselves to because of the Covid-19 protocols.
So it does not require rocket science to make a fairly accurate guess about Quinton De Kock’s mental state considering the unnecessary controversy he invited onto himself by not taking the knee coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic ill effects which ultimately led to his premature retirement from test cricket.
Sadly for his fans and cricket South Africa, De Kock will not be taking part in the remaining two test matches against India.
We at Paigaam wish him all the luck for future life and expect to see him playing white ball cricket the way we are used to see him.
