Quinton De Kock is one of the few players in the current crop of South African players who played with a golden generation and a new generation. He made his Test debut during Graeme Smith’s last series in international cricket and shortly after Jacques Kallis moved on as well.

As his career grew Quinton De Kock had the likes of Hashim Amla, Faf Du Plessis, Ab De Villiers, and JP Duminy with him in the batting line-up. Their presence allowed Quinton De Kock to play with childlike freedom as he went about his business with aggression. Towards the end of the decade, seniors started retiring and responsibility was thrust on De Kock which proved to be a challenge. By 2020 at the age of 27 Quinton De Kock had captaincy thrust upon him which is possibly where the change in De Kock’s time in the national team came up.

As a player, Quinton De Kock was often seen as a player best left on his own, allowing him to focus on his own game. At the top of the order, he was in another league when compared to his South African peers as he made batting look so easy to the eye, getting the team to quick starts irrespective of the format. With the gloves, he is one of the most acrobatic going around and De Kock had all the potential to be one of the greatest of the generation.

South Africa went through a tough period post 2019 though which saw Faf Du Plessis step down from captaincy. Quinton De Kock was primed to be the white-ball captain, and was the best batter in the team at the moment. Test Captaincy was given as a temporary post but his appointment saw Quinton De Kock take the role of an opening batter, wicket-keeper and captain for South Africa across formats. He stayed down the order in Tests but had his work cut out.

Few games in, Quinton De Kock had the additional pressure of adapting to South Africa’s transformation targets, changing management, and retirements of the likes of Faf Du Plessis and Dale Steyn. His form with the bat sky-dropped and the added pressure of living in bio bubbles made life really tough and lonely for Quinton De Kock.

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Results were alright but the pressure was building, especially in Test Cricket. By the end of the 2021 season, De Kock was relieved of captaincy but the episode resulted in him going on a mental health break which is probably where his view towards international cricket changed.

He came back later in the year and travelled to Dubai for the T20 World Cup where another controversy involving him occurred. He refused to take the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and was dropped for the upcoming fixture. The World Cup turned out to be a silent ordeal for him. A couple of months later, the effects of the last two seasons turned out to evolve into bigger concerns with Quinton De Kock announcing a sudden retirement from Test Cricket in the middle of a series against India.

The retirement came as a shock with De Kock’s growing form and level of fitness. A young family and workload management though made it easy for him to make the decision. The surprises though did not stop there. Quinton De Kock remained a consistent member of the side in white-ball cricket, but it looks like workload and the burden of being an experienced member and one of a few players to play with the golden South African group had its toll.

He announced another sudden retirement from ODI Cricket after the World Cup, leaving with him with at most nine games left in the format. He will still be around for the shortest format and hopes to go around playing franchise cricket. With De Kock’s form, ability, and fitness though the announcements have left fans wondering what could have been as a player with incredible potential moves away from another format of international cricket.