Faf du Plessis involves in a heated moment in Johannesburg; raises his finger at Stuart Broad

It was perhaps the final time that he came out in whites in front of his home crowd. South Africa captain Faf du Plessis gave hint recently that the ongoing Test series against England might be the last outing in red-ball cricket on home soil. Du Plessis has had a tough time with captaincy over the past many months — the disappointment at the ICC World Cup and then the hammering in the Test series in India. His team beat England in the first Test in Centurion in the ongoing series but lost the next two to squander the chance of winning it.

The hosts’ batting let them down yet again in the fourth Test in Johannesburg. After allowing the Three Lions to get to 400, South Africa were all out for just 183. England though did not enforce a follow-on and batted again to score 248. The Proteas were left to score a mammoth total of 466 to square the series but were left with the struggle to save the game on Day 4. Eventually, England won by 191 runs to win the series 3-1.

Faf du Plessis had a poor series with bat against England

However, Day 4 witnessed a not-so-happy incident when Du Plessis had a heated conversation with the England players. In a video, the SA captain was seen bumping into one England player lightly but then pointed his right-hand finger at pacer Stuart Broad.

It could not be understood what exactly had transpired between Du Plessis and the England players but the SA captain did not last long after that episode, giving a hint that he might have lost his focus. He made 35 off 92 balls in the second essay before getting bowled by Ben Stokes. It was the second-highest score he could manage in an otherwise low series in which he could manage only 151 runs in eight innings.

#SAvsENG #ProteaFire don’t call our skipper that!!☝🏾 pic.twitter.com/dzUECGbIS0

— Thabiso Mazibuko (@therealThabiso1) January 27, 2020

Du Plessis was dropped from South Africa’s ODI squad for the three-match series starting February 4. The 35-year-old was replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. South Africa cricket authorities, however, said that he still features in their plans. Proteas will play three-match ODI series against England starting from 4th of February. The three-match T20I series will start from 12th of February.