Faf du Plessis on his whirlwind 86 in IPL 2021 final: Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has opened up on his match-winning 59-ball 86 in the final of IPL 2021 for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and said that he was battling his mental demons by channelising his positive voice which wanted to make Cricket South Africa (CSA) realise that he was far from finished. Notably, du Plessis was not included in South Africa squad for the T20 World Cup 2021 despite his red hot-form across franchise leagues. Follow more such sports news on InsideSport.IN.
Faf du Plessis on his whirlwind 86 in IPL 2021 final: ‘Wanted to show CSA how good I am still if you have forgotten it’
Faf du Plessis had finished the CPL 2021 as the fourth highest run scorer. He scored 277 runs at an average of 34.62 and a strike rate of 143.52. Du Plessis’ highest score came in the match against Barbados Royals when he scored 84 off 54 for the St Lucia Kings.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, he finished with 633 runs – just 2 behind Orange Cap winner and his teammate Rituraj Gaikwad. The 37-year-old averaged 45.21 then and his strike rate was an impressive 138.20. He scored 60 fours and 23 sixes in the UAE – the same venue where the T20 World Cup 2021 was played within a week after the mega final which CSK won handsomely.
“I have a good batting voice and a bad batting voice. To give you a practical example of this voice, in this last IPL, I had a fantastic IPL, to the point where the goals I set for myself, which were to be in the top three [run-scorers] right from the beginning, I got along to this goal pretty well,” Du Plessis told Paddy Upton on the ‘Lessons from the World’s Best’ podcast.
“But, through the process of this, there’s this positive and negative voice. To reference one such incident, I’m in the race, but in the semi-final, I get one and everyone shoots past me, and then I’m sitting at number six.
“So, we win the game and go into the final. It’s a big game, and this negative voice goes, ‘no, you’re not making it, they’re too far away. Actually, you know what, you’re a little bit out of form, I don’t know how you will get runs in the final. Oh, it’s a big game, you got one in the last game’. This voice tells me a failure.
“I would have [listened to the negative voice] in the past, but then this positive voice goes, ‘Top three is your goal. You play your best when it’s high-pressure. You’re Mr. Dependable. When pressure is at the highest, that’s you. Ok, what do you need? 40 runs to get into the top three, well, no, I’ll make 83 runs to be number one. I want that Orange Cap.’ Also, I want to go, ‘Cricket South Africa, I just want to show you how good I am still if you have forgotten it’,” added du Plessis.
South Africa had an impressive T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman. They won four out of their five group stage matches but unluckily missed out on a semifinals berth. England and Australia won as many matches in Group 1 but had a superior Net Run Rate (NRR) than South Africa which was led by Temba Bavuma.
Faf du Plessis had announced his retirement in Test cricket in February this year. His last white-ball match for the country came in December 2021. He was last seen captaining Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 competition. Du Plessis led his team to the playoffs where they lost to Team Abu Dhabi in the Eliminator on December 3.
Faf du Plessis on his whirlwind 86 in IPL 2021 final: ‘Wanted to show CSA how good I am still if you have forgotten it’
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