Faf du Plessis' narrow thinking the reason behind AB de Villiers' absence in WC 2019: Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has come down hard on South Africa captain Faf du Plessis after Proteas’ dismal show against India in the ongoing Test series. South Africa have conceded the three-match series after being outplayed in the first two games. India thrashed them by 203 runs in the series opener before inflicting a heavy defeat of an innings and 137 runs in the second.

Despite the hosts not preparing rank turners, South Africa batsmen have failed to apply themselves on tracks which require great skills. As far as Du Plessis’ performance is concerned, he has scored 2 fifties in four innings so far but those knocks have not made much of a difference. His captaincy has also been under criticism and Shoaib Akhtar has further piled the pressure on him.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, he not only criticised Du Plessis but also slammed him for not letting AB de Villiers play in this year’s World Cup. De Villiers, who had retired from international cricket last year, had expressed his desire of playing for the Proteas in the tournament but the team management had turned down his request.

“Faf du Plessis – AB de Villiers was requesting him to get a place in the team. But to make sure de Villiers does not take away all the limelight, du Plessis did not include him in the team. This is a sign of narrow thinking person,” said Shoaib Akhtar.

Shoaib Akhtar slams Du Plessis’ captaincy

Shoaib Akhtar further took shots at Du Plessis’ captaincy. The former Pakistan pacer called the Proteas star an average captain. He pointed out South Africa’s dismal performance in the World Cup where they failed to progress to semis. Akhtar was also critical of the captaincy standard across the world.

“Faf du Plessis, I feel is an average captain. His captaincy was average in the World Cup. He is batting at number 6 in India with Quinton de Kock at number 7. They have no good spinner in the team, how will you win against India? His tactics in the series have also failed in terms of bowling changes,” said Akhtar.

“Disappointed with the mediocrity of the captaincy and the deterioration of South African cricket which I got to witness through the captaincy. Pakistan are down, South Africa are down, West Indies are down and so is Bangladesh. Then who is going to play Test cricket? We need to save Test matches and bring more improvement in the format,” he added.

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