He is the oldest member of any playing eleven in the Royal Challengers Bangalore outfit and yet, is the scorer of the most runs from the southern franchise as on date. Nearing 39, he’s scored the most runs not just by any RCB batter but by any IPL batsman in 2023.
At 38, he sports the physique of a 24-year-old gym-obsessed, bodybuilding freak who can inspire nerdy teenagers and junk eaters to switch to a healthier lifestyle within minutes of merely walking past them.
In a tournament featuring big, merciless hitters, Andre Russell, Shikhar Dhawan, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tewatia, David Miller, Cameron Green, Tim David, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, David Warner and Liam Livingstone- his strike rate of 166 (as on Apr 20) inspires awe and generates envy.
Where most would be content to merely attempt a wild heave on spinners, he can be seen converting 1’s into 2’s.
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In that age where you don’t necessarily fancy your chances of leading any side, let alone in the IPL, the darling of the T20 league-dom, he is the oldest current captain in the IPL 2023.
We aren’t done yet.
At a time where most can only dream of matching Virat Kohli’s rate of scoring, he can be seen overtaking the King in the runs department irrespective of whether he bats in Bangalore or elsewhere.
Francois “Faf” du Plessis defies all rational logic and goes beyond expectations.
Legend has it that even before he set foot in international competitive cricket for South Africa, he had been signed by the Chennai Super Kings, circa 2008.
Interestingly, he would emerge as the highest scorer for that very outfit in 2021, which would turn out to be his final year playing for CSK before the big move to Bangalore came about.
In the 2021 IPL season, Faf du Plessis didn’t score, but plundered 633 runs from the CSK camp (highest score 95*), a season in which he’d strike 6 fifties and club 23 sixes.
Truth be told, you wouldn’t have blamed those who regarded the switch to the trophy-less RCB as being irrational and perhaps too passion-driven.
Except, Faf proved them all wrong, whether pundits or critics alike; while he took 16 innings in 2021 to hit six half centuries, he’s only taken four innings this season to hit four.
Lest it is forgotten, Faf du Plessis has already hit 23 sixes this season, equalling his 2021 feat and there are, at least, four to give games left in the bank.
In an age where an athlete’s muscle mass and fitness standards have become perhaps just as important as the runs collected during a series, Faf is oozing fire in both spheres.
He wears the orange cap with a quiet sense of confidence while rejecting the desire to over-celebrate his heroism with the bat.
And make no mistake; it is sheer heroism with the bat.
Not once has he been out for a duck. Not one Faf du Plessis inning in the IPL 2023 has resulted in a single digit score.
Completely aware that he’s contesting in a land that loves hype and is overjoyed by cricketing idols, Faf cuts a fine portrait of a dude who wears cool weathers on his shoulders.
He’s quite the suave sailor and not some hot-headed captain of a ship who’ll shout and snarl or come up with antics that would please the ruffian in the garb of a pure cricket fan.
In an age where cricket is largely becoming a sport of massive egos at work, where what makes news, would you believe it, is a cricketer unfollowing another on Instagram, Faf du Plessis needs none of that junk; he’s just happy being the prototype of a Protea cricketer who loves competing in a game.
Everything else is BS.
As a matter of fact, the classic Faf du Plessis fan, and there are many as one might note,
is a simple cricket-loving breed not restricted to South Africa, but one that would neither delve in theatrics nor lewd celebrations.
There would be no excesses as such that one could attach to this tribe that merely loves batting just as match as the lone South African warrior having nothing to do whatsoever with any kind of diatribe.
Perhaps what paints Faf in a different colour altogether is that all he takes to leave an impact isn’t some attention hungry Tweet or a loud celebration and no cringe reels either; a mere twitch of the muscle to stroke a boundary does the trick for the bicep baring bloke.
He doesn’t have enormous fan clubs. The crowds don’t chant his name as was the case with his famous contemporary- AB de Villiers. Moreover, the main lane right outside the front gate of the Chinnaswamy doesn’t come to a standstill when Faf walks out from the team bus into the ground.
Such glory is reversed for the Virat Kohli’s and the MS Dhoni’s. On his part, Faf humanises the sport by stepping to the pedestal of the common fan, accepting his love as the only real reward besides the cash rich balances that lurk in the accounts.
He poses for the selfies a countless number of times.
In this era of impassioned selves and burning stares, Faf breaks the ice through the warmth of that smile.
It’s something that we’ve grown accustomed do akin to the muscular pull towards the deep mid wicket and the square leg region.
Most teams that silently regard RCB as contestants with a trophy-less cabinet back home melt as Faf is seen offering a hug.
He did that to Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians. He’ll probably do that to a Lara or Steyn as well.
There’s no agony, not even borderline antipathy; just regard for the format of white ball cricket that allowed Faf’s romance for batting to continue even after his own people back home cut ties with him and in a rather unbecoming manner offering no rational explanation or reason.
That’s when captain Faf du Plessis played the lone wolf in the ICC 2019 ODI World Cup scoring most runs by a South African besides registering the only century in the cup by a Protea bat (100 against Australia).
But away from a South Africa that today possesses incalculable exuberance of youthful talent- Tristan Stubbs, Gerald Coetzee, Keegan Petersen, Marco Jansen- Faf’s found a newfound purpose to his cricket.
Part-entertainer, part-bowler bleeder, Faf du Plessis is occupied in extending a career graph with a sense of passion and skill that would compel the young achievers to renew focus in the game and not take success for granted.
We don’t know for sure what might become of RCB as it’s a long tournament. We don’t even know whether Faf’s golden touch would run any further or whether it would wane out any time soon.
But what can be said with certainty is that post- AB’s exit when one thought none would bring South Africa back into focus in the IPL, there emerged very solidly a quiet legend of the sport called Faf du Plessis.
And he’s not done yet.