Ever since he has relinquished the captaincy, there is a speculation over Faf du Plessis’ cricket future. But the former South Africa skipper on Monday (May 4) cleared the air, saying he will continue to play all three formats of the game in the 2020/21 season.
The 35-year-old handed over the captaincy in white-ball cricket to Quinton de Kock and the team will also have a new Test skipper for their tour of West Indies, which is slated to be held in late July despite the COVID-19 threat.
It has been over 45 days since any form of domestic or international cricket was last played and Du Plessis is now badly missing the game.
In an interview released by Cricket South Africa, Du Plessis said lack of cricket due to the Coronavirus outbreak has reignited his desire to stay in the international circuit.
"I still love playing for the Proteas. I still see myself adding huge value," he quoted. "I am extremely motivated and keen to play in all three formats. This time away from the game has made sure that the hunger is still there for me and that is a big thing for players, to really still love what you do."
Du Plessis admitted that he will miss the captaincy but is also relishing his new role as a mentor.
"I love captaincy, it is a part of who I am. I have captained since the age of 13. I still look at myself as a leader before a player, so I enjoy that more than anything else. I will always miss it, but I do think that the time has come for me to move on to a position of growing other leaders, something that I feel is lacking in our system,” Faf said.
"I want to make sure I can create some sort of value towards that, helping guys with someone who is there to guide them and, if they want to, to have someone they can talk to within the team. It is a great opportunity for five or six guys to come together and create a leadership group in the Proteas that will drive the culture for the next four or five years," he further remarked.
(Inputs from Reuters)
