‘It was men taking on boys’ – Faf du Plessis on South Africa’s 5-1 defeat against India in 2018

Faf du Plessis, the former South African skipper, went down the memory lane to the time when India beat the Proteas 5-1 in an ODI series back in 2018. Barring the rain-curtailed game at the Wanderers in Johannesburg where Heinrich Klaasen’s heroics hogged the limelight, the hosts were beaten black and blue. It was a series where the home team lost firepower due to injury concerns.

Faf, himself, started with a 120 in the opening match at the Kingsmead in Durban, though his team lost. But then, a finger injury ruled him out of the remaining ODIs and the T20I series as well. Even Quinton de Kock developed a wrist injury after only a couple of games.

India bulldozed all over us: Faf du Plessis

Remembering the series, Du Plessis mentioned that after the body blows, it was “men taking on boys”. Even as the home team kept straining, the Men in Blue tightened the screws on them. Faf also lauded India for being the standout team in the bilateral series.

“In the one-dayers we had 3 or 4 big injuries. I broke my finger, Quinton got injured and I think Hashim got injured. So, basically our batting line-up was gone. And then India bulldozed all over us, they beat us 5-1. It was men taking on the boys. They were just too good in that series,” Du Plessis was quoted as saying on the Sony Ten Pitstop Show.

Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, tormented the South African bowling, scoring 558 runs at a gigantic average of 186. He notched three centuries and a fifty along with a top score of 160 in the third ODI at the Newlands in Cape Town.

That Rohit Sharma, the second highest run-scorer in the series, got 235 runs less than his skipper, showed Kohli’s sheer dominance. Barring the game at the Wanderers, India won every other game comprehensively, without having to drop much sweat.

It didn’t spring a surprise that Virat was adjudged as the Player of the Series. Kohli and Co also went on to win the T20I series 2-1, though they had to work out of their skins, especially in the deciding match in Cape Town that they won by seven runs.