Published 14:31 IST, February 17th 2020
Faf du Plessis steps down as South Africa's Test, T20I captain on AB de Villiers' birthday
Faf du Plessis debuted as the skipper of South Africa when he began leading the T20I side in 2012. South Africa recently lost against England at home 1-3.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) unheralded a new era with the appointment of Mark Boucher as the head coach of the Proteas squad recently. In January, Faf du Plessis was sacked as the ODI captain and experienced youngster Quinton de Kock took over the role of being the team's white-ball captain. Faf du Plessis has now announced that he is further stepping down from his roles as the Test and T20I skipper of the South African national side.
CSA release Faf du Plessis' statement
Even though South Africa looked confident ahead of the England series, they could only win a single Test before the visitors beat them comprehensively at home. Faf du Plessis looked really off colour and his recent record as Proteas skipper was indeed pointing towards the fact that he may soon lose his Proteas captaincy. Speculation became stronger when Quinton de Kock was appointed as the team's ODI captain in the recent England matches.
On Monday, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis announced that he is stepping down from his leadership duty and will be looking forward to fostering young talent in the team under the leadership of de Kock. Du Plessis stressed that he will be focusing on being a part of the team as a senior batsman.
“When I took over the leadership, I did so with the commitment to lead, perform & most importantly, to serve. As the team heads into a new direction with new leaders and a young crop of players, I feel it will be in the best interests of SA cricket to relinquish the captaincy. pic.twitter.com/hOHFD7zKo8
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) February 17, 2020
Faf du Plessis stats and IPL 2020 stint
In his 36 Test matches as South Africa captain, Faf du Plessis won 18 matches while drawing 3. He has a win percentage of 50%. In ODIs, Du Plessis has won 28 of his 39 matches as captain.
In T20Is, Du Plessis has won 24 out of his 40 matches as captain. Co-incidentally, Du Plessis' announcement has come on the day of his best friend and batting great AB de Villiers' birthday. It is highly speculated that De Villiers may come out of retirement and play for South Africa in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup. Faf du Plessis will be back in India by the end of March as he is set to play in the IPL 2020 for the Chennai Super Kings.
Updated 14:31 IST, February 17th 2020