South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis on Wednesday announced that he is retiring from Test cricket. “My heart is clear and the time is right to walk into a new chapter,” the former South Africa captain wrote in a post on social media handle Instagram.
Du Plessis also released a statement on social media as he announced the big decision. In the statement, Du Plessis expressed his intentions of continuing playing in the shortest format of the game, especially considering the year 2021 and 2022 will feature T20 World Cups. The veteran batsman also refused to rule ODI cricket out of the picture, saying he intends to continue in the 50-over format too.
Du Plessis had made his bow in Test cricket back in November 2012 against Australia and played his last match in the purest format of the game against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. He had an incredibly poor outing with the bat in Pakistan, registering scores of 10, 23, 17 and 5.
Overall in the format, Du Plessis had scored 4,163 runs at an average of 40.02 with 10 centuries and 21 half-centuries to his name. Du Plessis doesn’t have a doubleton to his name in Tests, falling short of just 1 run, when he scored 199 against Sri Lanka at Centurion last year. He represented the Proteas in a total of 69 Tests.
