Joburg Super Kings Captain Faf du Plessis
At 41, Faf du Plessis, the former South African captain is still going strong and is hungry to play and perform. Leading the Joburg Super Kings for the fourth season in a row, du Plessis was excited to have another crack at winning the title in yellow. As he sat down with his former Proteas teammate and one of the members of the SA20 commentary panel, Dale Steyn, du Plessis spoke about the Super Kings franchise, mega auction and needing to have a strong bowling attack.
Speaking with SA20, looking forward to the new season, Faf du Plessis recalled his journey with the Super Kings franchise, from CSK to now with JSK:
"As players, you look back on your career and are very grateful for certain things that happened at certain times. And for me, getting signed the same year when I made my international debut, by CSK, was obviously something that, if I look back now, was a huge starting point of my career. So the 10 years with CSK in the IPL, which was an incredible part of my life, you know, it was such a great time to just be into a team, win 3 IPLs. So obviously, I was very happy when they decided to invest in South African cricket in the SA20. And then you just obviously want to be with people that you know and trust and have a good relationship with."
"You have this fairy tale in your mind that somehow, I thought I would finish back in the IPL where I started my IPL career and do a season with CSK. I thought that was always on the cards, but life doesn't always work out like that. So I'm glad that it's still possible to do it here in SA20. So yeah, loving playing for this team."
On the mega auction and changes in the Joburg Super Kings' squad:
"That's the sad thing about big auctions. When you're building leagues and teams, ideally, you want to have as many retentions as possible and keep the core of your team. But it isn't, it doesn't work like that. You have only got a certain amount of retentions that you can keep. And then you go into the auction and you try to pursue some of the players that were part of your squad because it is the Chennai way. You know, it's always been like back players longer than the other teams do. So this is a big turnover. There are a lot of new faces. And I walked into the dressing room and I was like, wow, this is a young team. So I remember looking at Richard Gleeson and I said to him in a meeting, I was like, Glees, thank you for bringing the average age a little bit closer to what it is. Because he's 38 and as a fast bowler, he's done a great job. So basically what you do with auctions is you go, 'Who are the guys I don't want to face and you try and buy them."
On building a strong bowling attack during pre-signings and the auction:
"From last year, I was pleading with the management to get a bowling attack that can win competitions because I think bowlers win you the trophies. The batters can get man of the match, they can score the runs. So, I was extremely excited by the bowling attack we got in the auction. Gleeson, Worrall, Nandre Burger, Akeal Hosein, I think in South African conditions, a guy who bowls so well in the powerplay is a real asset and that's something we were really keen on getting."
