After their elimination from the 2015 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup semi-final, former South African quick Dale Steyn talked candidly about his team’s feelings. According to Steyn, the team forgot about their loss in the knockout stage and moved on within a day.
Dale Steyn played a key role in the Proteas’ loss in the 2015 semi-final, which came about as a result of a thrilling finish by Grant Elliott of New Zealand, which eliminated them from the competition.
“I believe that in that day, we handled it very well. After that, we all went home and did our own thing. When the South African team got together the following time and headed back to the locker room, I had the impression that we hadn’t discussed the events from a few months prior. We also had to make sure that the elephant was removed from the room. For what seemed like a very long time, it was undoubtedly still present in the room, Steyn told ESPNcricinfo.
In front of young cricket players, the 40-year-old continued, he used to “put a smile on his face and be a professional” after the game. Additionally, he mentioned realizing that everyone should accept both victories and losses as a player. Despite everyone’s anger, he said, they were able to move on because they understood that these things would inevitably happen in sports.
“This is where you have to be the true professional that you are,” I said to myself as I sat down in the dressing room. You are an experienced player. I visited with a few of the younger men, the Quinton de Kocks. Even on television, Morne Morkel was clearly upset.
There was a group message the following morning saying, ‘Guys, there’s a breakfast scheduled somewhere,’ so we all gathered. The previous night had seemingly never occurred. As soon as possible, we made an effort to move on. We didn’t begin addressing it as a team until a year or two after it had occurred. Everybody handled it differently as an individual. However, as a group, we hadn’t discussed or resolved it,” he continued.
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