T20 World Cup 2021: Why is Quinton de Kock not playing today's match?
South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock has "made himself unavailable" for the team's T20 World Cup match against the West Indies. Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma confirmed the news at the toss on Tuesday. Bavuma mentioned that Quinton de Kock has made the call owing to 'personal reasons'.
The big blow to the team comes hot on the heels of a directive by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Tuesday. The board asked all their players to "take a knee" together in support of a fight against racism for the remaining games in the tournament.
While the two events could be completely unrelated, Quinton de Kock was the only player to not take a knee in South Africa's opening match against England. He was also absent from the team's national anthem recitation after the toss on Tuesday.
Taking the knee is a popular gesture used by people all around the world to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight against racism. Many teams, including India, have taken a knee together in this T20 World Cup.
Quinton de Kock not playing because of his stand on BLM movement 😳
#BlackLivesMatter #SAvsWI #worldT20 https://t.co/LqC76QKCL3
Quinton de Kock didn't score much against Australia on Saturday. Opening alongside Bavuma, he played 12 balls for seven runs before mistiming a paddle sweep which saw the ball bounce onto the stumps.
However, his absence will still hurt South Africa. De Kock was the team's highest scorer in their T20I series against West Indies earlier this year with 255 runs at an average of 51. No other batter from either side crossed even 180.
Who has replaced Quinton de Kock in the South African team?
Quinton de Kock has an Average Batting Impact of +7.1 in T20Is since the start of 2019. That's the highest figure for any batsman in the world to play 20 innings in that time. His absence is an enormous loss for South Africa. #T20WorldCup #SAvWI
South Africa has called upon Reeza Hendricks to replace Quinton de Kock against the West Indies. The 32-year-old right-handed batter is ranked 19th in the ICC T20I rankings.
Overall, Hendricks has played 37 T20Is, scoring 993 runs at an average of 28.37. Hendricks' strike rate isn't too impressive - 122.90 - but he can play the long game and change gears when set.