FILE - Faf du Plessis of South Africa during the third 2020 KFC T20 International Series game between against England. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
Cape Town - Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis has revealed the details related to his omission from South Africa's T20 World Cup squad earlier this year, claiming Cricket SA had "unrealistic expectations".
Although retired from Test cricket, Du Plessis, 37, remained committed to playing white-ball cricket for the Proteas, which included the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
The veteran was still in fine form, having been named Player of the IPL final, which was staged in the UAE just days before the T20 World Cup was meant to get underway.
However, it was seemingly Du Plessis' commitments to the various T20 and T10 leagues around the world that he now earns his living from that created the dispute.
There is another T20 World Cup in Australia next year though, but Du Plessis is unclear whether that now forms part of his future plans.
"I am on a different journey now. Last year when I played for SA against England the plan was very much to play at the World Cup and that was the talk. It was really difficult though for Cricket SA and myself to find something that still allowed me to play overseas because that's obviously why I retired from Test cricket especially," Du Plessis told Cricinfo in Abu Dhabi, where he is currently playing for the Bangla Tigers in the T10.
"They tried to but we couldn't find a middle ground and I think they wanted people who were available all the time and that made it a challenge for the guys like myself and Imran Tahir because we were playing overseas as well.
"I think that's the challenge now because we are playing overseas and they want us to play all the games which is an unrealistic expectation."
Upon returning from the T20 World Cup, where the Proteas failed to qualify for the semi-finals despite winning four of their five league matches with their only defeat being against eventual champions Australia in their opening game, Proteas coach Mark Boucher stated that there could still be a place for Du Plessis in South African cricket moving forward.
"I certainly don't think the door is closed for anyone," Boucher told the media at OR Tambo.
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"The Faf conversation was had, and unfortunately, it just didn't work out with the scheduling and all that stuff. It's been tough during Covid times and bubble life, I understand from his perspective with family, has been very tough.
"Going forward, hopefully we can get out of bubble life as soon as possible and get back to some sort of normality with regards to touring.
"I haven't sat down with the selectors and spoken about the future of Faf yet, but we will definitely have that conversation with regards to Faf and other players as well."
Du Plessis was on Tuesday evening released by the Chennai Super Kings after being with the four-times champions for the past 11 years and will instead form part of the mega IPL auction.
@ZaahierAdams
IOL Sport
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