Test Retirement From Faf du Plessis Will Leave A Big Gap In Proteas Side: Graeme Smith

Cricket South Africa’s director of cricket Graeme Smith on Wednesday has said that the retirement of Faf Du Plessis will leave a big gap in the Proteas Test side. Former captain Faf Du Plessis had decided to end his test career on Wednesday after representing his nation in 69 test matches scoring 4163 runs at an average of 40 with 10 centuries and 21 half-centuries to his name.

Duplessis’s highest score of 199 in tests came against Sri Lanka in December 2020 and has been a consistent performer for the South African side in the last decade in all the formats. He wrote his heart out in his Instagram post about his retirement and revealed that the time has come for him to pack his boots from the longest format of the game with two successive T20 WorldCup years.

Graeme Smith Credits Faf Du Plessis For His Commitment

Graeme Smith mentioned that Du Plessis had been terrific over the years across formats and lauded his commitment to the team. He added that he respects the difficult decision of Du Plessis and appreciated on behalf of CSA for the dedication Faf has put in over the years. He also told that the retirement of Faf will leave a big gap in the South African side to fill with the amount of experience Faf has.

“Faf has been a prolific Test cricketer for the Proteas for a number of years now and to lose him in this format is going to leave another big gap in the team. His commitment to the team has always been undoubtable and his transparency with Cricket South Africa about his plans has always been appreciated and we respect his decision, knowing he would not have come by it easily,” Graeme Smith said in an official release.

“I would like to thank Faf on behalf of CSA for his years of service and dedication to the Proteas’ Test team and we look forward to engaging further with him on how he can continue contributing to the team in a meaningful way,” he added.

Du Plessis Prioritizes T20 Format

Faf Du Plessis in his retirement post said that he is honoured to have played for the nation in all the formats and added that he has shifted his focus to the T20 format with the world cup coming up this year. He told he will remain focussed on ODI format too but the priority will be in the T20 format as of now. The right-hander holds the record for scoring a century and a half-century on debut against Australia.

Faf Du Plessis’s next assignment will be in the Indian premier league for the Chennai Super Kings.