IND vs SA: Shukri Conrad Reveals Why Dean Elgar Announced His Decision To Retire

South Africa coach Shukri Conrad opened up about why Dean Elgar will retire from Test cricket after the India series. He said that lack of cricket is the main reason why the veteran opener decided to call time on his career.

Dean Elgar surprised many when he made public that he would be hanging up his boots after the Test series against India. The former Test skipper has been an incredible servant for South Africa in the longest format of the game. With him playing only one format, it was expected that he would play a bit longer but that wasn’t the case.

Dean Elgar’s 12-year-long international career will come to an end on 7th January when the Test series against India will conclude. The series will begin on 26th December at his home ground in Centurion and then will end in Cape Town, where the second game will be played on 3rd January.

Dean Elgar has played a great role in South Africa’s success in Test in the last one decade. He played many match-winning knocks and will go down as one of the best openers in the longest format of the game. He also captained the team and under him, South Africa finished third in the ICC World Test Championship in the 2021-23 cycle.

Shukri Conrad opened up about Dean Elgar’s decision, saying that he along with the batter agreed that they aren’t playing much Test cricket and young players aren’t getting opportunities. Speaking to reporters, he explained:

“The fact that we haven’t got much Test cricket is part of the reason we arrived at the decision we arrived at. Ideally, we would like to play more Test cricket because the more Test cricket we play, the more opportunity we’ve got to blood cricketers for the future.

“If we have fewer Tests, that means I’ve got very little opportunity to blood young cricketers. Sometimes we arrive at decisions like Dean’s now because of a lack of cricket and a lack of opportunity to blood young players.”

Shukri Conrad hailed Dean Elgar’s never to give up and fighting attitude, saying that if any of the youngsters will have half of his quality then they will be in good space. He added:

“Dean epitomises what a South African cricketer and almost what a South African person is about: resilience, dog fight, pride in performance and that ability to never back down. Those are all the elements that Dean has brought to his extensive international and first-class career and to all the sides he has played in. 

“Hopefully if some of the young bucks that are going to be stepping up into those big shoes, half of the characteristics and the qualities that Dean had, then we will be in a good space.”

IND vs SA: Hopefully we can give him the perfect send-off  – Shukri Conrad on Dean Elgar

Shukri Conrad further opened up about the conversation he had with Dean Elgar. He also highlighted about the importance of the series and hoped that his side would be able to give a good send off to the veteran batter. He explained:

“The conversation and the decision and the outcomes have been exactly how Dean and I discussed it. It is absolutely no surprise to me that we are at the place where Dean has decided to retire against India.

“I am very comfortable and thrilled to have Dean available for this series. It’s a massive series for us as a team. It’s a huge series for Dean. And It is going to be quite an emotional one. Hopefully, we can give him the perfect send-off as well.”

Dean Elgar so far has played 84 Tests so far. The 36-year-old has mustered 5146 runs including 13 centuries and 23 fifties. He would be hoping to end his career on high and win the last Test series of his career.