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While all teams are announcing their T20 World Cup squads before the deadline of September 10 which has been set by the International Cricket Council (ICC), one squad that has raised quite a few eyebrows and has got everyone talking is that of South Africa. This is because Cricket South Africa (CSA) did not include some big names in the 15-member squad announced for the world event.
Other than Janneman Malan, the selectors also did not consider the likes of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris- experienced cricketers who have been consistent with their performances in franchise cricket in recent years. Later selection convenor Victor Mptisang reasoned the consistency in selection behind not considering Du Plessis. He highlighted that they could not convince the former South Africa captain to make himself consistently available for the Proteas which is the reason they had to leave him out from the showpiece event.
They're obviously attracted to various leagues: Mpitsang
"Faf has got a wonderful record but we wanted to be consistent in selection and this is the group of players we have gone with. When you're working with free agents, you have to come together that works for both the team and the free agents, they're obviously attracted to various leagues and then the squad has its own requirements on how they build towards a World Cup," Mpitsang said as quoted by News24.
However, Du Plessis has been in the splendid nick in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League where the right-handed batter has scored 187 runs in seven matches, striking at a 138.51 with a best of 120*.
Similarly, all-rounder Morris was left out and even faced serious accusations from former South Africa captain and current CSA director Graeme Smith. Smith stressed on the fact that Morris has hardly agreed to play for the national team in recent years and was thus not considered for the T20 World Cup.
Very confident in the current crop of spinners: Graeme Smith
"Outside that Chris made himself unavailable. Most of our engagements with Chris through his agent has said that he is unavailable for international cricket," Smith said.
Smith added that although Imran Tahir has been in great form, they have shown their faith in the remainder of the spinners for the marquee event set to happen in UAE and Oman.
"Imran has had a great run and is still successful but we were very confident in the current crop of spinners we are developing, we felt that they deserved the opportunity," Smith said.