The former South African captain is considered one of the most colorful characters in cricket. He made his international debut in 2011 and has played for the Proteas in 69 Tests, 143 One-Day Internationals, and 50 Twenty20 Internationals, scoring over 11,000 runs.
He was named South Africa’s Test captain in 2016 after establishing himself as a batter, and the following year, he became the all-format leader. Even though the 38-year-old retired from Tests in 2021, he is still not popular when it comes to white-ball formats.
Du Plessis has been involved in a number of controversies throughout his career, in addition to being a tenacious batter. He was found guilty of ball-tampering twice in Test cricket, once in 2013 against Pakistan and once in 2016 in Hobart against Australia.
The former South African captain discussed the numerous controversies he encountered throughout his career in a candid and entertaining conversation on the YouTube channel “The Grade Cricketer.“
Faf du Plessis recalls his Test debut against Australia as “there was a barrage of abuse flying.”
The South African batter made his Test debut against Australia in 2012 in Adelaide. Du Plessis won Player of the Match honors for his memorable performance, scoring 78 and 110* in the drawn Test.
However, the cricketer acknowledged that batting in the face of a barrage of insults was not at all simple.
The heel of my foot just slipped out of my shoe as I walked out. The shoe won’t go back in when you try to kick it back into place, making it feel like your worst nightmare. After that, a torrent of abuse began to fly, and I thought, “Wow, this intense.“It can’t go any more awful. As I walked across the field, I was taken aback.
How the Australians went from abusing Faf to abusing their own Huss Du Plessis received a surprise visitor from the opposing camp when he made his Test debut.
The batter from South Africa stated:
“The entrance of Huss (Hussey) surprised me. I had no idea he would enter. Back then, the culture was very different. He asked me to come to the door when he knocked on it. He was holding a barrel of bottles from Penfolds, an Australian wine producer, and he wrote, “mate congrats this is a special day.”This will stay with you forever. I am extremely proud of you.“
Funny thing is that while Hussey’s gesture to Du Plessis won over a lot of Proteas fans, his own teammates weren’t too happy.
Du Plessis played 376 balls (466 minutes) during his unbeaten century in the second innings to help his team win the Test and earn a draw.
The serious fight between Warner and De Kock as well as the humorous tale of Lungi and the towel!
The South Africa-Australia Test series of 2018 will be remembered in a negative light. On the fourth day of the first Test in Kingsmead, Durban, in addition to the ball-tampering controversy, David Warner and Quinton de Kock got into a nasty fight during the tea break.
Du Plessis shared his version of the incident, stating that he was taking a shower and wanted to unwind, but had to leave quickly.
The Warner-De Kock argument was extremely audible. I wanted to relax and take a nice shower. While I’m taking a shower, I hear a familiar voice and a lot of swearing.
“I was only wearing the old, low towel around my waist after the shower. Then, seeing the entire Australian cricket team ascend the stairs.
Du Plessis added that there was also a humorous aspect to the story, despite the fact that he acknowledged that the altercation was quite serious. Even as fast bowler Lungi Ndigi surprised everyone with his “scared” response, he was concerned that his towel would fall off.
The 38-year-old continued, adding a hilarious twist to the story:
“I’ve got one hand on my towel — you have to hold on to it — and looking back, I wonder how it would have played out if there had been a “Rumble in the Jungle“.
In relation to the controversy, the Australians claimed that De Kock became a little too intimate. The Proteas camp, on the other hand, responded by claiming that Warner had also crossed the line.