Two days back, due to a variety of reasons both explained and hidden, Faf du Plessis announced that he would be stepping down as South Africa captain from Tests and T20Is with immediate effect. The 35-year-old however, claimed that he would remain committed to playing all formats for the Proteas.
Faf du Plessis was asked to fill in the large shoes of Ab de Villiers after the latter gradually drifted away from responsibilities and the game. He had to take over the reins of the nation when stalwarts in Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith were in the embers of their respective careers.
Under his stewardship, SA won 18 out of 36 Tests, a win percentage of 50%.
He won 28 out of 39 ODIs he captained. Thus he has an impressive win percentage of 73.68 % in ODIs.
And his team triumphed in 25 of 40 T20Is. So his win percentage in T20Is too is quite good-61.25% which is higher than MS Dhoni (59.28%), Eoin Morgan (56.52%), and Kane Williamson (47.56%).
These stats exemplify he was a result-oriented captain and lead South African cricket remarkably well.
The middle-order batsman’s career, merging with the shedding light of the experience of a few players, saw him kick-start life as captain in a sensational fashion.
Indeed, he would go on to become the only South African leader to have won both home and away series against Australia across two formats – ODIs and Tests.
All in all, du Plessis recorded close to 4000 runs in 65 Tests, 5507 runs in 143 ODIs and 1363 more runs in the shortest format.
Under his leadership, South Africa became, and remain, a feared force in the T20s.
However, a home and away defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka last year began to typify the underlying issues in South African cricket amidst a tactical and political transition.
A thrashing in the World Cup didn’t help his cause either. A drastic dip in personal form since the start of 2019 led to a loss in confidence, which also reflected in the Rainbow Nation’s results.
Speaking after announcing his decision, du Plessis said:
“This was one of the toughest decisions to make, but I remain fully committed to supporting Quinton, Mark [Boucher] and my team-mates as we continue to rebuild and re-align as a group. South African cricket has entered a new era. New leadership, new faces, new challenges and new strategies. I remain committed to play in all three formats of the game for now as a player, and will offer my knowledge and time to the new leaders of the team.”
As he has always done in his career, du Plessis added few more words of wisdom in a dignified, selfless and frank manner. He continued:
“I have strived to lead the team with dignity and authenticity during exhilarating highs and devastating lows. I have given my everything during my tenure. I have never been one to throw in the towel and do believe I am putting the team first and believe we have to stick through the tough times to get to the good times. In a perfect world I would have loved to lead the team in the Tests for the rest of the season as well as the T20 World Cup, but sometimes the most important attribute of a leader is to be selfless. I am healthy, fit, energised and motivated and certainly see myself playing an important role in the squad for as long as I continue putting in winning performances for the team.”
Faf will go down as one of South Africa’s most unique skippers, mainly for his outspokenness, focus on detail and obsession with the higher-order ranking of quality within the ranks.
Quinton de Kock is mostly set to take over as captain in the longest format, adding a lump of responsibilities on his young yet broad shoulders.
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