Dean Elgar Reckons Players Shouldn't Expose Themselves By Putting Their Hand Up For South Africa's Test Captaincy Role

Dean Elgar, South African Test opener, is of the belief that captaincy is something that is decided by the hierarchy and it is not something where players can just apply like a regular job.

South African Test captaincy post is up for grabs after Faf du Plessis relinquished his leadership duties following the rainbow nations chastening 0-3 shellacking against India and 1-3 defeat at the hands of Joe Root’s England last summer.

Since then, the likes of Aiden Markram and Keshav Maharaj have thrown their hat in the ring for the leadership role but Elgar feels players shouldn’t expose themselves by post by raising their hands for the high-profile job.

“The captaincy is not like going for a job interview, where you hand in your CV,” Elgar was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“You don’t put your hand up for it. It’s something that’s decided by someone else and it’s who they think is the best person for the job. It’s good for players to have confidence and back their abilities, but when you do that, you can put yourself in an exposed position,” Dean Elgar added.

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Dean Elgar also delved on why Faf du Plessis might have stepped down from his leadership duties

According to the South African opener, the rainbow nations disastrous 2019 World Cup campaign that saw them bow out of the tournament from the group-stage, might have played a big role in Du Plessis stepping down.

“If you as a captain aren’t getting results, then pressure builds. The World Cup didn’t work in his favour and then everything snowballed from there. He would have known whether it was the right time to step down or not,” Elgar reckoned.

Post South Africa’s disastrous World Cup campaign, Du Plessis was replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock in white-ball formats while the position in the longest format of the game is still vacant after du Plessis stepped down in January.

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