Post South Africa’s world cup 2019 debacle, Faf Du Plessis’s cricketing journey hasn’t been an ideal one. After being rested for the T20 series against India, South Africa lost the test series against India 3-0 under the leadership of Faf Du Plessis. This was followed by another test defeat at the hands of England where South Africa were beaten 3-1.
The former South African skipper batting average dropped below 40 for the first time in his career in December. February 2020 saw him handing over captaincy duties to Quinton de Kock as he stepped down from captaincy in Test and T-20 cricket.
South Africa are coming into the India tour with a 3-0 whitewash against Australia. The Quinton de Knock led side thrashed the Aussies without the services of experienced campaigners such as Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen. While things haven’t been great for du Plessis over the last six months, he will be making a comeback in the team for India tour and would be hopeful of getting back amongst the runs and get back in a good frame of mind.
Former Indian bowler, Zaheer Khan believes that giving up captaincy would help him and he won’t be having that extra pressure when he will take the field against India in the second ODI in Lucknow.
“You look at the history of cricket and you know that. There are plenty of examples of actually good players not able to take the pressure of captaincy. There had been made captain and then they lost the way how they used to go about doing their business in terms of their preparation. It can hamper them. Certain players flourish with the pressure of captaincy and certain who get bogged down with it. In Faf’s case, the latter has happened. Zaheer was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz.
“He couldn’t really live up to and now he can actually start afresh. We have always known what kind of a player Faf is. The record always shows that. It’s just about clearing your mind and starting afresh. You go about focussing yourself and let someone else drive the ship. That is something which I am hopeful of. Faf is a fantastic player and South African team needs him. They need his experience in that group to calm the nerve down and to share the pressure of putting the total together.” he added
“I think it will be a good move for South Africa to bring Faf back in the set up and helping him through the process of starting afresh.”
The first of the three-match ODI series is likely to get whitewashed due to incessant rain. Both the teams are currently waiting for the rain to stop as the toss is yet to happen. The second ODI will be played on 15 March, in Lucknow.
