'CSA has unrealistic expectations' - Faf du Plessis on 20-20 World Cup snub

When former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis had announced his retirement from Test cricket earlier in 2021, he has said he would look to focus on playing white-ball formats for the team. The 37-year-old had set sights on playing the two 20-20 World Cups, which were scheduled to take place in 2021 and 2022 in UAE and Australia respectively. However, the Cricket South Africa (CSA) board didn’t name him in the 15-member squad announced in September.

Preceding the announcement, Du Plessis played franchise T20 tournaments around the globe and made a mark in the PSL, the Hundred, and CPL, and the IPL. The right-hand batter had a superb season for Chennai Super Kings and ended up scoring a jaw-dropping 633 runs. He finished the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer.

Despite the good form, experience, and his desire to focus on playing the 20-20 World Cup, the seasoned campaigner was ignored. The 37-year-old has now opened about his omission and pointed out to CSA’s board “unrealistic expectations” from players’ part to be available all the time.

“I am on a different journey now. Last year, when I played for South Africa against England in the series there, the plan was still very much to play in the World Cup. And the talks were that leading up to that. But at that time, it was just really difficult for Cricket South Africa and myself to find something that allows me to still play overseas,” du Plessis told ESPNcricinfo.

Du Plessis, who is currently leading the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 league further opined that CSA had problems with players playing franchise T20 cricket.

“That was the reason why I retired from Test cricket. They tried to, but we couldn’t find a middle ground and I think they wanted people that are available all the time. That made it a challenge for the guys like myself and Imran Tahir because we were playing overseas as well. I think that’s the challenge now because we are playing overseas, if they don’t want us to play all the games, it’s probably an unrealistic expectation,” he added.