Faf du Plessis willing to captain in all formats

With AB de Villiers relinquishing the ODI captaincy, Faf du Plessis is said to be the frontrunner for the job. Already captaining the Test and T20 team for a while, du Plessis has put his hand up to take the challenge and lead South Africa into the 2019 World Cup. No official word on du Plessis’ appointment as the ODI skipper has been made yet.

‘Captaincy brings the best out of me’

The good news for South African cricket is that de Villiers has committed to playing all three formats for the country. The 33-year old hasn’t played in the 5-day format since January 2016 but will soon be seen donning the whites for the Proteas. The right-hander has expressed his desire to win an ICC trophy before calling quits from the international arena. With the 2019 World Cup just about 20 months away, South Africa needs to start working towards it to fulfill their goal of ending their World Cup drought.

Du Plessis’ willingness has made it easy for the CSA to make a decision. “Captaining a team brings the best out of me,” Faf told Times of India on Monday. Former skipper Graeme Smith opined that du Plessis must captain in only two formats in order to continue enjoying in the role and not get overstressed. But as things stand, du Plessis is the best candidate to take his nation into the 2019 World Cup.

Du Plessis highlights the significance of Global T20 league

The talk of the town has been the forthcoming Global T20 league which will commence in November and last until December. Plenty of overseas stars have already signed for this league which will benefit South African cricket immensely. Du Plessis, who will lead the Paarl-based Stellenbosch Monarchs in the inaugural season, cited that it will be challenging to make the event successful.

“The challenge in front of our league is to make it successful. Therefore it is important that cricket does not bleed and our cricketers don’t lose their focus by playing only one format,” he said while adding that T20 Global League would be the biggest event in South Africa.

South Africa quickly needs to start working on identifying the right combination in ODIs going forward. They have a great bunch of cricketers in the limited overs set-up and the question is to find the right balance.