Saint Lucia Kings’ skipper Faf du Plessis thinks the South Africa squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia is ‘really good’.
Du Plessis captained South Africa in two T20 World Cup campaigns, in 2014 and 2016, and has a wealth of experience playing T20 cricket all over the world. As South Africa captain, du Plessis registered an overall 70 wins in 115 matches with a win percentage of 60.86.
South Africa are always a team to watch prior to any tournament. Commenting on the recently announced South African side, du Plessis went on to break down the squad in detail.
“I think it’s a really good squad,” Faf du Plessis said. “In my opinion, to be successful in Australia, you need some pace and bounce on those wickets. You’ve got that with (Kagiso) Rabada and (Anrich) Nortje, two very quick bowlers.”
Faf du Plessis further elaborated on the importance of quality spinners down under. “Because the grounds are bigger, spinners will play a role there and we got two very good spinners in Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi.”
Shamsi, who also is a part of the Caribbean Premier League 2022 for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, has picked up eight wickets in just four games in the tournament so far.
“Then you’ve got some really explosive batting within in that batting lineup. I do feel sorry for someone like Rassie van der Dussen, he’s been a stalwart in white-ball formats for South Africa. I think he’s not going to make it (to Australia) but he deserves to be there,” du Plessis further added.
Rassie van der Dussen is still nursing a finger injury he sustained during the second Test match against England in August.
South Africa go into the marquee tournament as one of the top teams. They begin their T20 World Cup campaign on October 24 at Hobart.
Faf du Plessis had led the South African team to the semi-finals at the 2014 T20 World Cup, which remains their joint-best finish at the big-ticket tournament.
Watch the full interview by Faf du Plessis here
