Faf Du Plessis

At 39 years old, Faf Du Plessis has this physical status:

Francois "Faf" du Plessis (DOO-pless-ee, born 13 July 1984) is a South African international cricketer and the current captain of the South African national team in ODI and Test formats. Du Plessis, a right-handed middle order batsman and part-time leg spin bowler, has served with Northerns and the Titans in South Africa, as well as matches against Lancashire, the Chennai Supergiants, the Melbourne Renegades, and the Melbourne Renegades. On debut in November 2012, he became the fourth South African to score a Test century on debut.

Du Plessis was later named T20 captain of South Africa in December 2016 and assumed full-time captaincy in all forms of the game, after teammate and former captain AB de Villiers relinquished the two limited overs captaincies.

Personal life

Du Plessis attended Afrikaanse Hool (Afrikaans High School for Boys, also known as Affies), a public school in Pretoria. He played with fellow Titans cricketers AB de Villiers, Heino Kuhn, and Jacques Rudolph. He is also a graduate of the University of Pretoria. du Plessis is the second cousin of Namibian rugby player Marcel du Plessis. Francois du Plessis, his father, played rugby in the 1980s for Northern Transvaal. In the music video for the song "Maak Jou Waar," an AB de Villiers and Ampie du Preez duet, du Plessis was featured.

In November 2013, he married Imari Visser, his long-time girlfriend, in Kleine Zalze. They have two daughters, Amélie born in 2017 and Zoey in 2020. In December 2019, Rhemi's sister Rhemi was married to fellow South African international cricketer Hardus Viljoen.

Du Plessis is a Christian. "I know that my job is more than the runs I score on the cricket field," du Plessis said. I hope to spend time with people to show them the love of Jesus and see their hearts shine through them as well."

Following fellow Protea player Lungi Ngidi's call for Cricket South Africa to be vocal about the campaign and to combat racism in cricket, du Plessis released a statement on Instagram on July 17th, demonstrating his support for the Black Lives Matter campaign. While du Plessis claimed he did not see color, he denied others' struggles because he did not understand color: "I] acknowledge that South Africa is still mainly divided by racial violence, and I believe it is my personal responsibility to do my best to emphasize, hear the tales, learn, and then be part of the solution with my words, words, and actions." He closed his remarks by saying that "all lives don't matter until the black lives matter." I'm speaking out now because I can't wait to be perfect, but I certainly won't. I want to leave a legacy of compassion. For the change to come, the work must persist, and whether we agree or disagree, dialogue is the catalyst for change."

Du Plessis' autobiography, FAF: Through Fire, will be published on October 28th, 2022, on his Instagram and Twitter pages.

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Domestic and T20 franchise career

After impressing the board with good results in the local Nottinghamshire leagues for Mansfield Hosiery Mills and in the Lancashire League for Todmorden, du Plessis was given a six-month contract with Lancashire County Cricket Club for the 2008 season as a Kolpak player. Du Plessis has signed a new three-year contract following his first stint with the club. Mike Watkinson praised du Plessis' fielding, saying, "If there's a better fielder in county cricket, I haven't seen him this season." After alterations to the Kolpak's rules, it was revealed in March 2010 that du Plessis would no longer be allowed to play for Lancashire as a Kolpak player. In 2011, he was signed by the Chennai Super Kings to play in the Indian Premier League.

Du Plessis, Jonathan Vandiar, Dean Elgar, and Ethi Mbhalati were among the four uncapped players to be selected in South Africa's 30-man preliminary squad for the 2011 World Cup. In 2011, he was named one of the top five South African Cricket Annual's Players Of The Year.

He was selected in Paarl Rocks' squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament in October 2018. He was the best run-scorer for the team in the tournament, scoring 318 runs in nine games.

In the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament, he was selected to play for the Edmonton Royals franchise team. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament in Paarl, and led the team to their first title. He was drafted by the Colombo Kings for the inaugural edition of the Lankan Premier League in October 2020. He was chosen by Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistani Super League's delayed playoffs in the fifth season as a replacement for Kieron Pollard in the same month. In the first eliminator of the tournament, he appeared only in one match as Zalmi were eliminated from the tournament.

He was signed by the Quetta Gladiators for the 2021 Pakistan Super League in February 2021, but he was barred from the rest of the tournament after colliding with teammate Mohammad Hasnain. In the 2021 T10 League, he captained the Saint Lucia Kings and the Bangla Tigers. Following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League, he was selected to play for the Jaffna Kings in November 2021.

Du Plessis was purchased by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2022 and named as team captain on March 2022. He was bought by the Northern Superchargers in April 2022 for the 2022 season of The Hundred in England.

International career

Du Plessis made his ODI debut against India on January 18th and recorded an unbeaten 60 runs. He was selected ahead of Albie Morkel for the 2011 World Cup on the Indian Subcontinent, and later became the No. 6 batsman for South Africa against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in 2012, replacing the injured JP Duminy.

He scored 188 runs in the match and was voted Man-of-the-match for his tenacious play that culminated in the match being drawn and the series being square until the third and final Test, in which he scored 78 runs in response to Australia's 550. He scored a match-saving 110 not out of 376 balls in 2nd innings, which took place in 466 minutes.

Morne Morkel (17 from 15), the first test at WACA Ground, scored 78 from 142 balls to take his team's scores to 225 in the 1st innings, from 75/6 with a strong support from Robin Peterson (31 off 45), to Vernon Philander (17 from 15). South Africa defeated Australia 1–0 in a 3-match Test Series. In December 2012, he was named captain of the South African T20 team for three matches against New Zealand.

After being found guilty of ball tampering in a Test match against Pakistan, he was fined 50% of his match fee in October 2013.

He scored 134 off 309 balls against India in December 2013, despite losing 458 to win in the 4th innings. On 450/7, the match came to a halt, only 8 runs shy of what was supposed to be the most successful run chase in test match history. Du Plessis scored 106 off 98 balls against Australia on August 27th, his first ODI century, after chasing 327 runs to victory. His 206 runs with AB de Villiers for the 3rd wicket is the most for South Africa against Australia.

Cricinfo also praised him for his 2013 debuts in the T20I XI.

In his second Hundred match, he was only six days later, on September 2nd. He scored 126 from 109 balls against the same opposition, but South Africa lost by 62 runs. du Plessis scored 121 off 140 balls on his third ODI century on August 27th and a consecutive ODI century on September 2nd. (South Africa was playing an ODI tri-series with Australia and Zimbabwe.)

Du Plessis dropped four runs against Australia on September 6, 2014, just four runs shy of becoming the first batsman to score 4 ODI hundreds in a row. (This would also be a record for the most ODI centuries by a batsman in any ICC ODI tournament) He started working on his 4th ODI century until his batting partner AB de Villiers reached two sixes and a four in a quick succession, meaning that du Plessis would need to obtain all the remaining runs in the game single-handedly if he was to reach this milestone. With only 1 run to win the game with plenty of wickets and balls, du Plessis was on 96 and therefore required to reach a boundary (barring any extras) in order to reach 4 ODI hundreds in a row, but when attempting to reach a boundary, he was caught off Australia's spearhead Mitchell Johnson's spear-head Mitchell Johnson's spear-head bowling. South Africa won the ODI match against Australia by 6 wickets. South Africa was also crowned champions of the ODI tri-series thanks to his victory, and du Plessis later became Man of the Series.

Du Plessis set the record for playing the most international cricket innings before scoring a duck (108) on December 17, 2014, and he became the first batsman to play in over 100 international innings before being out for the first time in over 100 international cricket innings. On December 27, 2014, du Plessis scored his second first innings century on the same ground: St. George's Oval. du Plessis scored 119 in 56 balls against West Indies on January 11, 2015, becoming the first South African to score centuries in all forms of the game.

Since original skipper AB de Villiers was barred due to a surgery, du Plessis was appointed captain of South Africa's five ODIs for the 2016-17 Australian tour of South Africa. After Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan, du Plessis scored his sixth century in his second game and became the second cricketer to score centuries in all international formats as captain. Du Plessis became the first batsman to score centuries in all three styles of cricket at a single venue during the same match in Johannesburg. He has scored 17 international centuries (seven Test, nine ODI, and one T20I) and is the first South African to score a century in all international formats.

Plessis is the first player to score a century in an innings of a day/night Test as captain. He set the record for the youngest ever captain as an unbeaten captain in the same match, but he was unbeaten on 118 in South Africa's first innings record of 259/9.

With AB de Villiers' retirement as Test Captain, du Plessis assumed the duties on December 12th, 2016, du Plessis also assumed the position.

Du Plessis scored 185 runs in his fourth ODI against Sri Lanka on February 7, 2017, his second best individual score by a South African, but only three runs short of Gary Kirsten's 188 runs.

In both directions, ODI captain de Villiers resigned from captaincy and du Plessis' posthumous post. He was named captain of the three T20Is in Lahore, Pakistan, on the same day. Pakistan won the series 2–1. Faf du Plessis said how much it meant for the people of Pakistan and that it might possibly bring cricket back to the region.

Du Plessis scored his 5,000th run in ODI cricket against Sri Lanka in March 2019. He was appointed captain of South Africa's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup in the following month. With 387 runs in nine matches, he finished the tournament as South Africa's top run-scorer.

He was named the Men's Cricketer of the Year at Cricket South Africa's annual awards ceremony in August 2019. Du Plessis scored his 4,000th run and his tenth century in Test cricket in December 2020. He finished with 199, becoming the 13th player to be dropped on 199 in Tests, as well as winning the man of the match award.

After leading South Africa in 36 Test matches, du Plessis revealed his retirement from Tests on February 17-2021.

Faf du Plessis has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) on ten occasions in Test, 12 times in One Day Internationals (ODIs), and once in Twenty2020 Internationals.

In the second innings of a test match in which he scored unbeaten 110 runs, he scored his first century against Australia on his debut in November 2012. In December 2020, he scored 199 in Centurion against Sri Lanka, his highest Test score.

In his 51st ODI career, he scored 106 against Australia in Harare, scoring 106. He made his highest ODI score of 185 runs against Sri Lanka in Cape Town on February 7. After 188 by Gary Kirsten, he set the record for the second highest ODI score by a South African during the innings.

In January 2015, he scored his second T20I century against the West Indies, becoming the first South African to score centuries in all three modes of the game.

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