Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis disclosed that he is contemplating a return to international cricket in time for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup the following year.
Du Plessis has not participated in an international match since the final white-ball match for his country, a Twenty20 International match against England in Cape Town at the end of 2020, and his last appearance for South Africa was in the second Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2021.
However, in recent times, the 39-year-old has been performing admirably at the domestic level. In this year’s Indian Premier League, he contributed 730 runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore from 14 innings, second only to Shubman Gill in that regard.
Du Plessis, who is presently engaged in another domestic tournament in Abu Dhabi, has disclosed that he and South Africa white-ball coach Rob Walter have been discussing the possibility of his returning to the international fold before the T20 World Cup begins in the United States and the West Indies in the middle of next year.
“I believe that I can return to international cricket,” du Plessis said.
“We have been speaking about this for the last couple of years. It’s just figuring out the balance of the T20 World Cup next year. It’s certainly something we have spoken about with the new coach.”
Du Plessis led South Africa to two T20 World Cup campaigns in 2014 and 2016, but despite having never formally retired from international white-ball cricket, he was not considered for the final two editions of the tournament.
Walter recently hinted at the possibility that du Plessis and a number of other seasoned players might return when he mentioned a group of players who were not taken into account for the forthcoming South African tour of India.
“Given that some of our frontline bowlers are missing out and there are guys – let me throw it out there just to create some media hype – like Faf (du Plessis) and Rilee (Rossouw) as well as Quinny (de Kock) that could well be considered for a T20 World Cup,” Walter said.
“And then also the (South African domestic tournament) SA20 that happens next year – 80 percent of the side picks itself but there is definitely a space for other guys to get themselves into the conversation.”
Although du Plessis no longer maintains a central playing contract with South Africa, he is confident in his ability to resume playing cricket for his country, having amassed 23 international centuries across all three formats.
“I do a lot of hard work to ensure I look after my body to be able to play this brilliant game we love so much,” he added.
“When you do get a little bit older, you have to make sure you put in the work.
“Otherwise, the hamstring and other body parts do not work that well.
“There is a lot of fast running and a lot of stuff to make sure that level where you can play against the best players in the world.”
