The former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has opened up about how he had to completely change his game to survive in modern T20 cricket. Faf du Plessis admitted that talent alone was not enough, and he had to grow, adjust, and sometimes even struggle badly before finding success again.
Faf du Plessis admits he had to reinvent himself in modern T20 cricket
The swashbuckling batter explained that his own T20 game needed time to grow and evolve with the changing demands of the format as the game was moving fast and bowlers were smarter and teams had better plans.
He admitted that the journey was not easy, as he failed many times while trying to improve and sometimes had to move away from his natural strengths to work on his weaknesses. Du Plessis added that going through this tough phase helped him understand the process of growth from a player’s point of view.
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Failures and tough phases helped Du Plessis grow
The former South Africa batter revealed that he now speaks to other players about identifying areas where they can still improve because of his experience. He believes that every cricketer thinks about getting better, even if they do not always say it openly.
Faf du Plessis was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo, “Theformat, point is you always have to start with yourself first, so my game in T20 cricket also needed a growth period; it needed to evolve with the game. It was a tough journey because you fail and then try and repeat the process. I promise you every player thinks like that; we might not always say it, but because there is trust and there is that ability to go. I think I can get better at this.”
RCB partnership with Virat Kohli sparked Du Plessis’ spin evolution
One big turning point came during his partnership with Virat Kohli for the RCB in the IPL. Both Du Plessis and Kohli were strong against fast bowling, but that similarity made him think about becoming more dangerous against spin in T20 cricket.
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He added, “I walked away from that season feeling like I needed to improve my own game in attacking spin, because we both had a very similar game plan, but because I came back the next season with that almost like evolution, I could see the same thing then happen to Virat.”
When Virat Kohli’s explosive spin transformation impresses Faf du Plessis
Interestingly, Du Plessis saw a similar change in Kohli. The former RCB captain, who once scored at a steady rate against spin, suddenly became explosive and started dominating that phase in the IPL.
He signed off by saying, “Virat, on the other hand, all of a sudden went from a strike rate of 130 against spin to 180, so any player can do it; it’s just the understanding that you need to put your little ego to the side a little bit and go and work at your game.”
Notably, Du Plessis, who has over 12000 T20 runs to his name, has not officially retired from international cricket yet, having last played for South Africa in 2020. The former RCB and CSK opener is still active in the franchise leagues across the world.
