South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis agonizingly fell one run short of his maiden Test double hundred in the ongoing Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka when he tried to hit Wanindu Hasaranga over the top for a boundary and was caught by Dimuth Karunaratne on 199 in the 138th over in Centurion Test.
Du Plessis was the top scorer for South Africa as the hosts took a comprehensive lead of 225 in the first innings on the third day of the ongoing Boxing Day Test of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
At stumps, Sri Lanka was on 69/2 with Kusal Perera unbeaten on 33 and Dinesh Chandimal on 21 not out.
After he missed his well-deserved double hundred by just one run on Monday, tired and disappointed Du Plessis said it was “unfortunate” to miss out on the milestone that he always wanted to achieve, saying the execution was perhaps not 100% there while playing that shot off Hasaranga.
Before the Centurion knock, Du Plessis had nine Test hundreds to his name, all of them under 150, and the former Proteas captain admitted that he has had more impressive performances than his 199 against Sri Lanka but hopes this innings has proved to people out there who doubted his ability.
Du Plessis said: “It's unfortunate. I worked extremely hard to try and get a 200 today. It is something I have always wanted to achieve. To get so close [and miss] is obviously not ideal. I felt really good at the crease today.
I feel it is a shot [over m I have played really well but the execution was perhaps not 100% there. I was pretty tired at that stage. I was not in the greatest position to try and hit that for six.”
He further added, “In match situations, I've made a lot better hundreds. When attacks are at their hottest when conditions are at their toughest. I wouldn't put this close to any of those. This was more for me from timing and a statement point of view, to make sure I proved to people out there who doubted my ability, that hasn't changed after a season or two.
In fact, I am trying to make sure I can improve my performance. It's more of that than ranking it in the top three or four.”
Du Plessis signed off by saying, “Two hundred is something I didn't spend too much time thinking about. When you get past 100 you start thinking about 200, but the biggest thing from today was that if a batter gets in, you want to make sure you cash in.
That becomes a match-winning knock. It's big hundreds you always strive for as a batting unit, to put the opposition under pressure.”
(With Cricbuzz/ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
