'This breaks more than anyone will know...' — RCB star batter and former South Africa skipper blasts Australian media after 'fat shamed' comment on retirement

Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) star batter Dane Van Niekerk, who called time on her long international career after missing out on South Africa's dream run in the T20 World Cup, has hit out against Australian media outlet Fox Sports for their report on her retirement announcement.

The article was headlined: ‘Meant to stay broken’: Fat-shamed cricket star to retire after 2km cut-off controversy' — and also reported that she failed to complete her 2K run, 18 seconds slower than required nine minutes and 30 seconds.

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"Excuse me?? Fat shamed?? Are u serious??," the South African cricketer wrote on Twitter while sharing a link to the piece. "Too be truly honest.. this broke me... again..it breaks more than anyone will know..," she further added in the thread.

Van Niekerk seemingly announced her retirement with an Instagram story that said, "You have to accept that some chapters in our lives have to close without closure. There is no point in losing yourself by trying to fix what’s meant to stay broken." Star Delhi Capitals all-rounder and her wife Marizanne Kapp confirmed the news with a post of old photos of the couple with the national team and a caption reading, 'End of an Era.'

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She injured herself in January 2022 and missed the consequent 50-over World Cup, women's cricket's Commonwealth Games debut, South Africa's return to red-ball cricket after an eight-year hiatus, and a home T20 World Cup. She was dropped from the national team and almost missed out on the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) before being roped in by the RCB) camp for Rs. 30 lakhs at the auction. However, she is yet to play a single game in the tournament.

RCB have so far lost all five games in the tournament and are on the brink of elimination.

Meanwhile, the Proteas women's team created history by reaching their first-ever senior ICC event final. They became the first South African men's or women's team to reach a senior World Cup final.