T20 World Cup | 'Everyone has their own opinion', says Kieron Pollard on Quinton de Kock's refusal to take the knee

The CSA issued a directive for every player to take the knee ahead of South Africa's match against the West Indies on their official website. Quinton De Kock pulled out of the game as he wasn’t willing to take the knee which created a lot of stir on social media. The CSA issued a statement saying that further action will take place after consulting with the team management. Meanwhile, the West Indies skipper said that everyone knows what his team thinks on the 'Black Lives Matter'. 

"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 defeat against South Africa, their second consecutive loss 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."

The 34-year-old added that he doesn’t want to speculate anything before getting into the truth. De Kock and Pollard play together in the IPL for Mumbai Indians. 

"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," he said.

West Indies suffered an eight-wicket defeat against South Africa on Tuesday in Dubai, and Pollard stated that his wicket was crucial as the team fell short about 20-25 runs.

"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. 

"I also believe that my dismissal in the last over was crucial because we knew they had an over to makeup and I was banking on that," Pollard said.

The Trinidadian further added that that the batting unit needs to step up and improve on the net run rate. 

"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," he added.

West Indies will next face Bangladesh on Friday, October 29 in Sharjah.