The New Huntsman In The Middle Order

Faf du Plessis, well the name doesn’t need any introduction now after the Adelaide Test, but for the record he has played some super innings for South Africa in his short cricketing career so far.

Indian fans remember him from his spoiler innings in the recent concluded World Cup T20 held in Sri Lanka, where India needed a desperate win against the Proteas to qualify for the semis but the innocent looking Pretorian (intentionally used) had different plans playing the innings much to the dismay of the Indian team and fans. South Africa lost that match by only 1 run but India were already knocked out of the tournament, thanks to the 60+ innings from Du Plessis.

Du Plessis could well have been another England’s gain and South Africa’s loss player back in 2008 when he signed for Lancashire. But for his performance in the domestic MTN40 competition where he topped among the run getters with 3 centuries in just 10 matches helped him break into the national side making his debut against India just before the World Cup in 2010-11 scoring a hard fought 60 in his first ODI innings.

Faf du Plessis would not have been playing in this Test were it not for JP Duminy injuring his Achilles tendon at the Gabba. And just as Duminy did on debut in Perth four years ago, Du Plessis has grabbed his first chance at Test cricket to provide a remarkable result for the Proteas down under. At the WACA it was a near-record chase of 414 for victory; this time South Africa's challenge was to bat for four and a half sessions on a wearing Adelaide Oval pitch to salvage a draw. 

Thanks to Du Plessis, the South Africans did so and the scoreline remains at 0-0 heading into the decider in Perth. Australia might have the best of the first two Tests but thanks to du Plessis, Australia's bowlers will have only four days to recover from some serious exhaustion, especially Peter Siddle, who sent down 63.5 overs for the match and was so debilitated by the time he bowled the final over of the match that he could barely stand up.

Coming to his innings of 110* in 376 deliveries, I am pretty much sure I haven’t seen a Test knock of such calm, unflappability under immense pressure as his to stay at the wicket, coming from a debutant made it even more special .Many have scored 100s on Test debuts but this one stays right amongst the top knocks. Batting for just a little over 3 sessions, Du Plessis came into bat when South Africa were tottering in at 45/4 on Day 4 of the Adelaide Test. He made sure the Proteas didn’t go down, not without a fight. Scoring runs didn’t matter staying at the wicket was of utmost importance, South Africa had a run rate of a mere 1.67rpo from 148 overs,, scoring only 248 runs but this mightily slow paced innings had its different charm, marking the arrival of the newest stalwart.

Faf du Plessis batted 376 deliveries and scored an unbeaten 110 in the second innings to help South Africa draw the Adelaide Test

This particular innings from Du Plessis brings me back the memories of Sydney Test when these two sides last met there, Graeme Smith had a broken arm of a Mitchell Johnson delivery in the South African 1^st innings which meant he could not bat in the 2^nd innings, the Proteas needing 376 runs to win were down at 257/9.Never before we had witnessed such scenes, Graeme Smith coming to bat at no 10 to save the match, remember he had a broken left hand (he is a left handed batsmen which means he could not hold the bat firmly),he batted for almost 8 overs with excruciating pain but was out with just only 10 balls remaining in the match, bowled Johnson. South Africa won that series 2-1 and Graeme Smith had his name in the South African folklores. Something similar Du Plesis has done today, the fighting spirit, the cool thinking head definitely make him a special cricketer. Duminy now has to do something extra terrestrial to regain his place, as of now what I see is Du Plessis grabbing the opportunity with both his hands.