CSA had originally posted wishes only for Lungi Ngidi and ignored Faf and Tahir.
Not only Faf, but Imran Tahir was also in the CSK squad, but there was no message from the South Africa cricket board (CSA) on its players winning the coveted IPL trophy. This led to a lot of backlash from the fans on social media, as CSA had posted on their official accounts congratulating only Lungi Ngidi.
They had ignored Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir, both of whom were in their ICC World Cup 2019 squad, and Faf even captained the team. Tahir retired from ODIs after that tournament, while Faf stepped down as captain and later retired from Test cricket in 2020. Both of them were excluded from the central contracts list.
Steyn upset after CSA ignores Du Plessis and Tahir in congratulatory post for IPL 2021 win
Cricket South Africa retracted their initial post and included the names of Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir in their post after initially excluding them. Surprised by the post from CSA, du Plessis responded to it, wondering why the board had chosen to not mention him in the congratulatory post.
"Congratulations to all the South Africans who competed in and claimed victory in the 2021 IPL Final with Chennai Super Kings. Notably Faf du Plessis who put in a Man of the match performance," CSA said.
Even Dale Steyn, South African pace legend slammed CSA, whose director is Graeme Smith, saying, “CSA opening a can of worms for themselves with their Twitter and Instagram. Whoever’s running those accounts needs a talking too.”
"CSA now blocked the comments section. Here’s some advice. Do the right thing. Delete the post and add all the men involved, save yourself the embarrassment and ridicule," he said in another tweet.
Notably, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir have not been picked for the T20 World Cup. However, the veteran cricketers are yet to retire from the shortest format of the game.