Graeme Smith insists Quinton de Kock won't be named South Africa's Test captain

Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith on Friday was appointed as Cricket South Africa's permanent director for a period of 2 years. He will be serving as the national side's head until April 2022. Following the appointment, Graeme Smith has said that white-ball skipper Quinton de Kock will not be named South Africa's Test captain even though there is no clear candidate for the position yet. 

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Faf du Plessis resigned from Test captaincy back in February this year but still remains available as a player. South Africa's next Test series will be in West Indies from July-August, but before that the board has ample time in their hands to zero down on a player who will lead the side in the longer format. 

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Graeme Smith reveals why Quinton de Kock won't become Test skipper 

According to the report in ESPNcricinfo, former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith has said that the board wants to keep Quinton de Kock fresh and playing well.  He added that he always believed that captaining in all the three formats is challenging for many players, recollecting his own experience while captaining South Africa from 2003-2014. Graeme Smith further said that from a workload and mental perspective, the board feels that to burden Quinton de Kock with all three formats wouldn't be beneficial and with the style of personality and player that he is, the board wants to keep him as expressive as possible.

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Speaking about a possible replacement for Faf du Plessis, Graeme Smith said he won't be able to speak about it since there is debate going on over the next candidate. Graeme Smith further added that there's no one person that could be pinpoint right now but there are a lot of players that are vying for selection and it is a challenging time for the board since a lot of players are on a similar level.

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Quinton de Kock to longer play for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2020

Quinton de Kock will not be playing for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2020 after the BCCI suspended the IPL 2020 tournament until further notice. The decision was taken by the board after the government decided to extend the lockdown until May 3 due to an increase in cases of coronavirus. The tournament, which was scheduled to start on March 29, was then shifted to April 15 due to the first phase of the coronavirus lockdown. Quinton de Kock, had a stellar IPL last season and was looking to perform well for Mumbai Indians and lead them to an unprecedented fifth IPL title. 

(IMAGE: IMAGE: GRAEME SMITH / QUINTON DE KOCK/TWITTER/ INSTAGRAM)