Faf du Plessis says CSA’s “unrealistic expectations” led to his exclusion from national team

Faf du Plessis has been in a great nick of form, and nobody can refute this point. Still, when the South African squad for the T20 World Cup was announced, his absence bamboozled everyone. A batter in the form of his life, who has been the second-highest scorer of one of the most competitive leagues globally, was not named in the South African team for the 2021 World Cup.

It was almost ironic that he was not made a part of a tournament that was played in the same conditions in which Faf had been playing for over a month for his IPL franchise CSK. This makes one question, what really went wrong for du Plessis and South Africa?

Everyone knew that considering the T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022, Faf du Plessis announced his retirement from the longest game format earlier this year. He had made his intentions very clear that he wanted to partake in those two World Cups. Then what changed for him and his country can only be answered by Faf himself.

In an exclusive chat with ESPNcrickinfo, du Plessis explained, “it was just really hard for Cricket South Africa and myself to find something that still allowed me to play overseas… we couldn’t find a middle ground, they wanted people that are available all the time. That made it a challenge for the guys like myself and Imran Tahir because we are playing overseas (leagues) as well.”

Even when the national team’s plans don’t include or circle around Faf, his fans don’t have to worry. The opening batter feels fit, and anyone who follows the sport can tell that by his performance in the IPL, followed by his team’s qualification to the next round in the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament. And he plans to continue playing the shortest format of the game as long as he can.