Faf du Plessis

In this article, the surname is du Plessis, not Plessis.
Faf du Plessis
du Plessis in 2020
Personal information
Full name
François du Plessis
Born (1984-07-13) 13 July 1984 (age 40)
Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm leg-break
RoleBatsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 314)23 November 2012 v Australia
Last Test4 February 2021 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 101)18 January 2011 v India
Last ODI6 July 2019 v Australia
ODI shirt no.18
T20I debut (cap 52)8 September 2012 v England
Last T20I1 December 2020 v England
T20I shirt no.18
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2003/04–2011/12[a]Northerns
2008–2009Lancashire
2005/06–2019/20Titans
2011–2015Chennai Super Kings
2016–2017Rising Pune Supergiant
2018–2021Chennai Super Kings
2018–2019Paarl Rocks
2022–2024Royal Challengers Bangalore
2023–presentJoburg Super Kings
2023–presentTexas Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 69 143 150 262
Runs scored 4,163 5,507 8,798 9,483
Batting average 40.02 47.47 39.27 46.94
100s/50s 10/21 12/35 18/52 21/57
Top score 199 185 199 185
Balls bowled 78 192 2,558 2,238
Wickets 0 2 41 54
Bowling average – 94.50 36.02 37.59
5 wickets in innings – 0 0 0
10 wickets in match – 0 0 0
Best bowling – 1/8 4/39 4/47
Catches/stumpings 63/– 81/– 141/– 147/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 7 January 2024

François "Faf" du Plessis (/ˈduːplɛsi/ DOO-pless-ee; born 13 July 1984) is a South African professional cricketer and former captain of the South Africa national cricket team. He is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and among the best all-format batsmen of his era.[1][2][3][4] He is also regarded as one of the most tactically astute and successful captains in all formats of modern cricket.[5][6] In 2015, du Plessis became the first South African to score centuries in all forms of the game. He was named as the South African Cricketer of the Year in 2019.[7]

One of the most successful international captains of his era with a winning percentage of 73.68 in ODIs,[6] he is the first international captain to defeat Australia in Australia in all three formats of the game[8] and defeat Australia in both Home and Away test series back to back, in 2016 and 2018.[9] In 2016, he also became the first and only international captain to whitewash Australia defeating them 5–0 in a five match ODI series. du Plessis was often called the magic dragon slayer of Australians and 2010s turned out to be a decade when South Africa dominated Australia like no other team in International Cricket.[10]

du Plessis's test performance in the 2012 Adelaide test is judged as the best test batting performance by any batsmen on Australian soil since the year 2000, hence making it the best 21st-century test performance in Australia.[11] du Plessis scored 119 in 56 balls against West Indies, becoming the first South African to score centuries in all forms of the game, and this is currently the highest individual score made by a South African in the T20I format. He has played South African domestic cricket for Northerns and the Titans, as well as for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England and Chennai Super Kings, Rising Pune Supergiant, and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

He made his international debut against India in January 2011 in a One Day International, scoring an unbeaten 60 runs, and went on to make his Test match debut in November 2012, becoming the fourth South African to score a Test century on debut.[12] After making his T20 debut in September 2012, he was subsequently also named T20 captain[13] of South Africa for the following Twenty20 series against New Zealand and confirmed full-time skipper in February 2013.[14]

du Plessis took over the Test captaincy in December 2016 and assumed full-time captaincy in all formats of the game in August 2017 after teammate and former captain AB de Villiers relinquished the two limited overs captaincies.[15][16] In February 2021 he announced his retirement from Test cricket in order to focus on the 2021 and 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cups.[17][18]


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  1. ^ "Best fielders in world Top 10 ever". lastwordonsports. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Best fielders in the history of Cricket". breldigital. 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Faf du Plessis' fielding a huge plus for any team - Harsha Bhogle". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Top odi batsmen of the decade". 16 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Faf du Plessis 'tactically astute' captain". sportslumo. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  6. ^ a b "One-Day Internationals Records". ESPNcricinfo.
  7. ^ "Du Plessis named South African Cricketer of the Year". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Faf du Plessis creates a captaincy record against Australia". Sportskeeda.
  9. ^ "Faf, the magic dragon slayer of Australians".
  10. ^ "Australia whitewashed: Whitewashed: Australia suffer first 0-5 ODI series loss". The Times of India.
  11. ^ "Best Test batting, Number 1". cricket.com.au.
  12. ^ Scorecard, Wisden India, retrieved 26 November 2012
  13. ^ du Plessis to lead South African Twenty20 side, Wisden India, retrieved 12 December 2012
  14. ^ Du Plessis takes over as T20 skipper, Wisden India, retrieved 20 February 2013
  15. ^ "De Villiers steps down as Test captain". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  16. ^ "De Villiers steps down as ODI captain, available for Tests". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  17. ^ "Former SA Captain Faf du Plessis Retires From Test Cricket". TheQuint. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Faf du Plessis announces retirement from Test cricket, T20s become his priority". The Times of India. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.