Few players bring so much passion and fire on the 22 yards as South Africa’s captain, Faf du Plessis.
You won’t find him daggers drawn with his opponents, even when he’s competing at the highest level. There’s this calmness about the man that defines him.
No cheap words, no verbatim, and no instances of rubbing his opponents on the wrong side to signal the beginning of mind games.
That’s not Faf.
Faf is the perfectly executed squares drive, the muscled pull from the way outside off. Faf is the incorrigible will to compete hard. Faf isn’t spewing words from behind the stumps to get under the opponents’ skin.
Above all, Faf is the brotherly love that sees the man throw his arms around a Rabada or Amla with equal fondness for two distinct characters in the sport.
A lot about the 35-year-old accumulator of over 5,500 ODI runs is about extending respect to the opponents.
Perhaps that is why Du Plessis was quick and polite in his admission that the upcoming tour to India would be a great new challenge for his South Africa.
South Africa are to tour India in early September, to play a Test and T20 series.
This will be South Africa’s maiden contest in the famous ICC World Test Championship.
And that Faf’s team is going to open its contest against a truly top-ranked opposition made the man confess earnestly that the series wasn’t going to be any easy. He shared:
“Any team will say that within a calendar year or so on the circuit, the toughest part of touring is probably playing in India. It's a tough start to the Championship for us. Everyone is going to have to play in India eventually, so we might as well start there.”
But you ought to admit that Faf’s a cricketer who, despite holding an impressive individual record, understands the weight of the talent he’s to lock horns against.
In the past, he admitted how MS Dhoni’s cheery leadership enabled him to settle well with the boys in the CSK camp. He’s someone who’s always appreciated the magnificent batting talent of Virat Kohli.
This is when Faf’s own international record isn’t any less intimidating or impressive. Currently, the holder of the second highest individual score for South Africa in ODI cricket, Faf who struck a mighty 185 against the touring Sri Lankans a couple of seasons ago, is the only man who put up a fight worth registering in the recently held cricket world cup.
Even though he seemed a lonely soldier for the Proteas, Faf’s bat did the talking for his team when others crumbled under pressure.
No other cricketer from South Africa struck a hundred in cricket’s most spectacular battle apart from Du Plessis.
Faf’s 100 off 94 in the contest against Australia, the final game for the Proteas, was an exhibition of a statement of purpose.
It was to be Faf’s 12th ODI hundred. And it signaled nothing but pure intent, his purpose being to return to South Africa with nothing but something positive.
South Africa will be expecting to put up a strong fight in the sub-continent but the onus would also be on the likes of van der Dussen, a great find for the team and Aiden Markram to be among the thick of the scoring.
But one man will be expected to be the batting powerhouse. None other than Faf!
