I Am Feeling Exceptionally Good: Faf du Plessis

The South African skipper, Faf du Plessis will play for his nation against Zimbabwe in the third ODI at Paar as they want to close the series to 3-0.

Cricket South Africa announced that Faf du Plessis had not fully recovered from a shoulder injury he sustained in Sri Lanka in August. He could be fit for a three-match Twenty20 international series against Zimbabwe starting on October 9.

However, it was announced at the press conference that Faf du Plessis is fit and will play for his team on October 6 (Saturday). Du Plessis had injured himself while taking a diving full-length catch in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Kandy on August 5, 2018. He didn’t play a single match after that incident and was out of action.

‘Mentally and physically I’m feeling exceptionally good. I feel like a youngster in the team again – I have a spring in the step,’ said Faf Du Plessis.

Moreover, Faf du Plessis has played six ODIs against Zimbabwe, scoring 314 runs at 52.33, with the highest score of 121. He also owes a good strike rate of 82.84. He scored 106 runs from three matches against the Lankan. Plessis was also not impressive in the Tests match against Sri Lanka.

In addition to that, it will be interesting to see who coach Ottis Gibson and the selectors decide to leave out of the top-order, with Aiden Markram having partnered Dean Elgar in the openers’ slots as Hashim Amla (finger) is injured and Quinton de Kock has been rested, and Reeza Hendricks at No 3.

Furthermore, Faf du Plessis comes at just the right time for a South African batting unit that has surprisingly failed to fire against the lowly-rated Zimbabwe attack.