Dean Elgar’s contract with Cricket South Africa has ended. However, the former Test skipper made a shocking claim regarding the politics and toxicity in the team’s environment. Dean Elgar was forced to retire early by Coach Shukri Conard because he was not considered for the plans that the South African board had in mind for the future.
Dean Elgar said that all the hard work that he did for cricket in South Africa was not given credit for that, and he was forced into early retirement from Red Ball Coach Shukri Conard.
In his interaction with Rapport newspaper, Dean Elgar said that he took a backseat in cricket as soon as he was handed over the test captaincy for South Africa. He became a full-time administrator and politician.
Dean Elgar said, “I became a part-time cricketer and full-time politician, something that I never want to go through again” . “I am a sportsman, not a politician or a cricket administrator, but I was thrown into a cauldron in which I had to be all three. If I had known that before, I would never have accepted the captaincy.”
Elgar felt that he was betrayed by South Africa as soon as he was removed as the captain of the side. The decision was being taken after South Africa lost to Australia 3-0.. In spite of that, the Proteas had a decent chance to qualify for the World Test Championship final, as they had beaten the West Indies, Bangladesh, and India under Elgar’s captaincy.
Elgar said, “It felt as though they did not recognize all my hard work over the previous year and a-half, that they didn’t realize how much we had improved as a team,” Elgar added. “From being sixth or seventh in the world, we became a team with the potential to play in the World Test Championship final.”
Elgar further went on to say that the new coach had a better collaboration with Temba Bavuma, even though there was no cold war between him and Bavuma. Elgar blamed Coach Conard for ending his international career. Dean Elgar said, “Shukri Conrad is the reason why my test career was cut short.”.
Dean Elgar was last seen playing for South Africa in a two-match test series against India, which ended 1-1.
