Faf du Plessis role in the South African team has never
been so crucial, at a time when cricket in South Africa is facing challenges
both in and outside the field, the former captain can be the figure which the
team needs to return at the top once again
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| Faf du Plessis is crucial for South Africa's plans |
Its hard time being a South African cricket follower, over
the course of past few years South Africa has witnessed the retirements of some
of their finest ever players. Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith retired long ago and
then it was followed by Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel,
and Vernon Philander. The team’s transition has stretched a bit too long, the
much ambitious T20 league has failed to live up the expectations. Compounded
with all these problems the administrative mess created by Cricket South Africa
resulted the game in the country taking a severe pounding. The graph of South
African cricket has gone down only since the India tour of 2015, when the team
lost their first ever series abroad, in 9 years.
With Graeme Smith being appointed as director of CSA and
Mark Boucher as coach of the national team, it looked that things would improve
but over the year it has been realized that the job is tougher than it has been
expected. Quinton de Kock’s appointments as captain has not paid dividends and
the mercurial player himself has looked a shadow of the player he is.
The first job which Graeme Smith has in his hand is the
appointment of the regular Test captain and then identifying the core group of
players for limited overs format where the team will be participating in three
world cups in next two and half years. The concern is deeper in Test matches
where South Africa continue to slip. Since November 2015, they have won 23
Tests and lost 23, a record which does not matches the excellence of South
African teams of Past (between 1992-2015 they won 106 and lost only 52 Tests).
They have been out of depth in Asia where they have played (since November
2015) 11 Tests and have 0 wins and 10 Losses to their credit.
The bowling has faltered but it is the batting which has
let South Africa down on majority of the occasions. So, what is the
solution? South Africa is in rebuilding
phase trying to identify their next superstars, in such a scenario the team
needs the experienced hands to guide them during this tough phase. While Graeme
Smith and Mark Boucher are there to guide them out of the field , they need
experience on the field and in such a scenario the presence of former Captain
Faf du Plessis becomes very important for the team.
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| Du Plessis has 10 years of experience and he has played 262 Internationals for South Africa |
South Africa has seen number of lows in recent times,
they have lost two home series against England, lost almost all tests in Asia
and in 2019, for the first time they lost a home Tests series against an Asian
side. In such a scenario it became important that Du Plessis stays and provides
much needed guidance to the new players. His hundred against Sri Lanka was an
example how he has to lead the other batsmen in this line up.
In his innings of 199, Du Plessis continued to build one
partnership after another guiding his junior teammates. His presence in the
centre made things easier for Bavuma, Mulder and Keshav Maharaj. It was not
only an innings which put South Africa in position of a command in the Test
match and enlightened the hope of ending a wretched year on high, but it was
also a glimpse of how South Africa should plan their future in the game.
South Africa is a proud cricket nation and has been one
of the top 3 countries since their readmission in 1991. They had a very
successful team which won all over the world for almost 7 years (Dec 2008- Dec
2015). Things haven’t been good since then but then there are lot of positives to take but the
losses in Pakistan had showed that they need their most experienced cricketer
to stay for sometime.
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