Faf du Plessis names two toughest bowlers he faced

Former South African skipper Faf du Plessis has enjoyed some fine international outings. He has also been a force to reckon with in the Indian Premier League, representing Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Though his T20I career was not vast, he was a dominant figure in the Tests and ODIs, having played 69 and 143 games in the formats respectively.

In 262 career international matches, Faf has amassed 11,198 runs. The destructive batter also has 8237 runs from 318 T20 matches. The current RCB skipper is all set to participate in the inaugural SA20 tournament, South Africa’s newly launched franchise-based tournament. He will be leading the Joburg Super Kings, a franchise owned by his former IPL team CSK.

Ahead of the curtain raiser between MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals, Faf got indulged in a candid conversation with ESPNCricinfo, where he opened up about two bowlers who gave him sleepless nights during his playing days. When asked the question, he named Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and added that in the Test format, Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja posed a threat.

In white-ball cricket, Faf has faced Ajmal 10 times, twice in T20Is and eight times in ODIs. Though Ajmal never managed to dismiss him in the two T20I innings, Faf managed to score only 18 runs against him. In the eight ODI innings, Ajmal has bowled 92 balls to Faf and dismissed him once, and the Proteas batter has managed to score just 52 runs off those deliveries.

Speaking of his encounters against the Indian spinner in Tests, Faf has scored 74 runs off 222 deliveries against Jadeja in 11 innings. The all-rounder clearly dominated with the ball against his former CSK teammate as he has dismissed Faf a total of four times in these 11 innings. Against Jadeja, Faf averages only 18.50 in the longest format. 

Virat Kohli has stood out for a long time: Faf

Later, Faf was asked who would be the one player from another country whom he would have liked in his team. He took no time to think and immediately named former India skipper Virat Kohli as he said:

“Virat Kohli. He has stood out for a long time, consistently. He is probably the most consistent among all of them.”

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