‘Faf’s record speaks for itself’: A glance at Faf du Plessis’ captaincy report card

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South Africa’s Faf du Plessis. (Reuters) /Peter Cziborra

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Shared News| February 18, 2020 9:51:48 am
“Faf du Plessis’s record as player and captain speaks for itself,” said Cricket South Africa’s acting CEO, Dr Jacques Faul, while announcing the former’s retirement on Monday. “He has maintained the high standards he set for himself,” Faul remarked.

du Plessis stepped down as South Africa’s Test and T20I captain but the cricketer maintained that he wants to continue his services for the Proteas both as a batsman and a senior member.

du Plessis leaves behind a lasting impact as a skipper leading the Proteas to greater heights in the cricketing world. Here are few of his interesting stats as a captain of the rainbow nation-

Faf du Plessis had an interesting record with the coin.

#Du Plessis was appointed as South Africa’s full-time T20I captain in February 2013 and it was under his leadership the Proteas went to book the last-four spot in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2014.

#Three years later in 2016, he took the helm in the longer format of the game and in the following year he was also named as the ODI captain.

#Du Plessis kicked-off his Test captaincy with a consecutive series win in New Zealand, one in Australia and a 3-0 whitewash over Sri Lanka at home during the 2016/17 season.

#In the 50-over format, Du Plessis won 17 of his first 20 games, which series sweeps against Australia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka at home, and an away 2-1 win against Australia.

#Du Plessis also is the first player to score a century in an innings of a day/night Test as captain. In the same contest, the right-handed batsman set the record for declaration of the lowest ever total ever as an unbeaten captain, where he remained unbeaten on 118 in South Africa’s first innings score of 259/9 dec.

# He is also the second cricketer to complete a century as a captain in all the three formats of the game and the first South African cricketer to accomplish the feat.

# Overall, he led in 36 Tests, 39 ODIs and 40 T20Is, of which South Africa won 18, 28 and 25 respectively.

# However, a historic Test series defeat against Sri Lanka at home last year, which was followed by an early exit in the World Cup led to the downfall of the 35-year-old.

# Did you know that Faf du Plessis has also picked up two ODI wickets as a skipper in 143 ODI games?

#Du Plessis’s win-loss ratio as a captain is as follows-
W-L: 1.2 in Tests.(Won 18, Lost 15 matches out of 36)
W-L: 2.8 in ODIs. (Won 28, Lost 10 matches out of 39)
W-L: 1.8 in T20I. (Won 23, Lost 13 matches out of 37)

# Faf du Plessis toss record in away Tests:-

First seven Tests: seven tosses won (Won 4; Lost 1; Draw 2)
Last seven* Tests: seven tosses lost (Won 0; Lost 6)

# Faf’s ODI captaincy record comparison (wins & win %):-

Faf du Plessis- 28/39 (71.79%)
Hansie Cronje- 99/138 (71.74%)
Shaun Pollock- 59/92 (64.13%)
Graeme Smith- 92/149 (61.74%)
AB de Villiers- 59/103 (57.28%)
Kepler Wessels- 20/52 (38.46%)

Teams Played for: South Africa, Chennai Super Kings, Melbourne Renegades, Titans, Rising Pune Supergiant, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, World XI, Stellenbosch Kings, Paarl Rocks, Edmonton Royals, Belfast Titans, Kent