Faf Du Plessis: No ego contest with Kiwis as captain wants to stay focused

The Proteas will take on the Kiwis in the first Test match beginning from 8th of March at University Oval, Dunedin, after clinching the exciting ODI series 3-2. The South African Test captain, Francois du Plessis, who is on a role after winning three consecutive test series is confident that his side will do well in Test matches too and believes that there would not be any ego contest between the two teams as currently, both are famous for playing the gentlemen’s game the way it is supposed to be played always as opposed to India-Australia second test match where things were getting ugly.

“I’ve said it before, Kane and myself are similar personalities so there won’t be any battle going on ego wise, not for the two of us, we are pretty chilled out in the middle” Du Plessis told reporters on Tuesday. It’s more when you play the guys that act like they want to run the show that’s when the captain can have a bit of an ego contest out on the field, he said.

He believes that the best can only be taken from the players when they are focused on job at hand rather than getting into a verbal exchange of words that can put anyone off the target.

Last time these two played each other was at Centurion (SA) in 2016 where the hosts sealed the series two test match series 1-0.

In New Zealand, pitches are generally helpful for the fast bowlers as there is grass on it most of the times and the ball also swings a lot in the air. With the likes of Kagiso Rabada who is in the form of his life and Vernon Philander who is one of the best swing bowlers right now in the world and Morne Morkel will be making a comeback from injury after a long time. The visitors bowling attack looks lethal making them hot favourites as they will take on an un-experienced New Zealand side.