Faf du Plessis retirement: Former South African captain retires from Test cricket

Faf du Plessis retirement: The 36-year old cricketer has called time on his Test career but will continue to play in other formats.

Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has hung his boots in Test cricket after scoring 4,163 runs in 69 Tests at an average of 40.02 and comprising of 10 centuries and 21 half-centuries.

du Plessis, who made his Test debut against Australia in Adelaide in 2012 to win an indelible ‘Man of the Match’ award, last played Test cricket during the recently concluded South Africa’s tour of Pakistan.

Away from home, du Plessis batted the best in Oceania scoring 697 runs at 77.44 and comprising of two centuries and five half-centuries in eight Tests against Australia and New Zealand. Overall, du Plessis has retired as South Africa’s 10th highest run-scorer.

du Plessis, who batted at multiple position from No. 3 to 8 in Tests, saw his best coming at No. 5 amassing 1,996 runs in 56 innings at an average of 42.46.

Having led South Africa in 36 Tests, du Plessis is only behind Graeme Smith (108) and Hansie Cronje (53) in terms of most Tests as South African captain. A win percentage of 50 also speaks highly about du Plessis as a Test captain.

Faf du Plessis retirement

du Plessis took to his Instagram handle to make the announcement regarding his retirement. The right-hand batsman, who will continue to play in ODIs and T20Is, has taken the step to concentrate more on the shortest formats with a couple of ICC T20 World Cups coming up.

“The next two years are ICC T20 World Cup years. Because of this, my focus is shifting to this format and I want to play as much of it as possible around the world so that I can be the best player I can possibly be,” he said. “I strongly believe that I have a lot to offer to the Proteas in this format. This does not mean that ODI cricket is no longer in the plans, I’m just making T20 cricket the priority in the short-term.

“I will be in conversation with CSA over the next couple of months on what the future might look like for me over the next year to find a solution that works for both of us,” du Plessis said in a part of his statement posted on Instagram.