Faf du Plessis captain of South Africa playing a shot during the South Africa national cricket team training session and press conference at Dr. Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA VDCA Cricket Stadium on October 01, 2019 in Visakhapatnam, India. (Photo by Isuru Sameera Peris/Gallo Images)
Faf du Plessis has admitted many times before that he loves going to India.
But one could easily argue he’s tried his best to forget his previous taste of Test cricket in the country.
Back in 2015, the Proteas got hammered 3-0 in a four-match series (arguably only saved a whitewash by a washout in the second Test), their highest total in seven innings being 214.
Du Plessis was one of the biggest victims – he scored an embarrassing 60 runs in seven visits, a pitiful average of 8.57.
Under fierce pressure, he eventually lost his Test place after three subsequent matches against England, where he made 127 runs in five innings – a haul that included one knock of 86.
He was in danger of becoming a white-ball specialist.
Then, AB de Villiers sustained a serious elbow injury, forcing the selectors to hastily seek a replacement captain.
Almost by default, it fell to Du Plessis.
He hasn’t looked back.
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The runs the Proteas are missing in 2019
AB de Villiers – 8 675 runs
Hashim Amla – 9 282 runs
JP Duminy – 2 103 runs
TOTAL: 20 060
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“What Test cricket does is that if there’s a major flaw in your game or something you’re not quite on top of, it exposes it,” Du Plessis said on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s start of a daunting three-match series against selfsame India in Visakhapatnam.
“Last time we played here, the batting unit as a whole and me in particular found it very difficult in tough conditions.”
That’s a bit of an understatement.
Nonetheless, Du Plessis buckled down, realising he could either drift further away from a spot in the pinnacle form of the game or be more proactive.
“I realised I needed to get better from a defensive technical point of view. I had to adapt better in these types of conditions. It was tough for everyone,” he said.
“But there was huge value in that tour for me.”
In fact, it was so valuable that Du Plessis has scored 1 926 Test runs in 29 matches since then at an average of 44.79, which is better than his overall one of 42.95.
He’s also doubled his century tally from four to nine in that period.
“After that I really started to play spin better. My record now has been a lot better. All players have to go through tough times, to understand themselves better. Either you can disappear or come back stronger.”
Better numbers or not, Du Plessis though is under immense pressure to take the lead with the bat, especially with the retirements of Hashim Amla, De Villiers and JP Duminy translating into over 20 000 Test runs going missing from a the batting order.
As a result, many will hope the presence of Proteas’ batting consultant for the series, seasoned former Indian pro Amol Mudumzar, will bear fruit.
“It’s been really refreshing having some local knowledge. It’s a different language and mindset that he brings. You have chats that you’re not used to and that’s really great, no matter how many games you’ve played before. I’ve enjoyed his time with us,” said Du Plessis.
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