Khaya Zondo, who was a part of the South African side which toured India in 2015, reveals that his selection was blocked by the Proteas Captain, Ab de Villiers. Zondo said that he was the next Batsman in line who should’ve got picked up in the Playing XI, but he wasn’t considered.
The 2015 ODI series between India and South Africa was at level. The final match of the series was at Mumbai and JP Duminy had got injured before the 5th ODI. It was clearly Zondo’s turn to play in the team after JP Duminy’s unavailability but that didn’t happen. Dean Elgar, who had just arrived in India for the test series was brought into the team in the place of JP Duminy. David Miller, who was not performing at that particular time did play in all the matches of the series. Miller was even given a chance to open the batting when he was not performing but there were no opportunities given to Khaya Zondo.
Here’s what Khaya Zondo said in his Statement
Zondo expressed his anguish on the Former South African Captain, Ab de Villiers. He said that it was beyond comprehension that why a captain would take responsibility for not selecting a player when it’s the job of the selectors.
“The captain (de Villiers) called me over to the side, away from the rest of the team. He then mentioned to me he was the one who felt I should not play. He was trying to explain himself and he was taking full responsibility for the decision,” Zondo wrote in his statement.
Zondo said that he could not believe that his Childhood hero was justifying his exclusion from the team.
“I remember in the moment of him explaining himself to me, losing all respect for him as a captain. And as someone, I looked up to as a cricketing hero of mine because I could not believe he was trying to justify himself to me. And it came across as if I should accept this decision because the decision came from him.”
Zondo even said that maybe his Race was the reason behind his non-inclusion in the team.
He said that he detached himself from the team for the rest of the tour. “It felt like i was not wanted”, Zondo said.
Here are the SJN Hearings of Khaya Zondo
Earlier, Zondo had presented his statement to the Office of the Transformation Ombudsman on July 22. But after the former South African selector attested about the incident, the cricketer requested for his statement to be made public on Friday. This consequently has given rise to a big controversy in South African Cricket. A group of Black players have written in their letters to Cricket South Africa about the concern of selection. The Cricketers have shown displeasure on their selection into the Squad but not into the Playing XI.
Former national selector, Hussein Manack, having his say on the incident, confirmed the injustice done to Khaya Zondo on Thursday.