Faf du Plessis contemplating ODI captaincy future after disastrous World Cup campaign

The 2019 World Cup turned out to be equivalent to a horror run for Faf du Plessis and South Africa. The Proteas could only manage a couple of wins in the mega event and finished on the ninth spot with five points above cellar dwellers Afghanistan. Their match against Pakistan at the Lord’s Cricket Ground was a must-win affair for them and they lost it by 49 runs to get knocked out.

Though they managed a nine-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in Chester-Le-Street, the writing was on the walls for them. Du Plessis and Co are scheduled to play their last game of the tournament against Aaron Finch’s Australia at the Old Trafford in Manchester. Even as the Aussies are already through to the semi-finals, South Africa would be looking to salvage some much-needed pride.

In the meantime, it has been learned that Faf du Plessis has been contemplating his future as the ODI captain after the horrendous World Cup campaign as per reports in Sport24. The national team could well see a new skipper when it takes the field the next time after the mega event. However, the 34-year-old Du Plessis may still continue as the captain in Tests and T20 Internationals.

Faf du Plessis saying he needs time to contemplate his future as Proteas skipper suggests that change is on the way. Don’t think it’ll apply to T20s or Tests, but we could be seeing a new ODI captain the next time the Proteas play that format @Sport24news @News24

— Lloyd Burnard (@LloydBurnard) July 5, 2019

A poor outing for Faf du Plessis

Parking aside his team’s poor outing, even Faf has had his difficulties in the World Cup. While the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Rohit Sharma, Aaron Finch and David Warner have racked up runs in the 500s and 600s, Faf could only manage 287 runs in seven innings at an average of 57.40. With three half-centuries, the experienced skipper is South Africa’s leading run-scorer in the tournament.

He has an excellent record as the skipper. In 38 games under his leadership, the Proteas won 27 of them, losing only 10 with one game being called off. The leadership role also rubbed off well in his batting. Faf has a career ODI average of 47.01, scoring 5407 runs in 142 matches.

However, the average shoots up to 56.10 as the captain with four centuries. Coming into the World Cup, South Africa had lost only one ODI series- against India- in the last one year. They even beat Pakistan and Sri Lanka this year at home, but couldn’t replicate the same in the mega event.