South Africa boasted one of the best captains in the world in Faf du Plessis, who took his team to new heights in cricket.
It was all going great until the 2019 season when the Protea side underwent transition with the retirement of their stalwarts, as well as players signing the Kolpak deal.
Additionally, South Africa had a poor run in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, becoming the first team to be knocked out from the competition.
Further, the Indian cricket team demoralized the South Africans in the three-match Test series by handing them massive defeats. The internal turmoil within Cricket South Africa led to the suspension of chief executive Thabang Morne.
Things went from bad to worse for Du Plessis with the home-series loss to England. Then came a wave of notable changes in the South African cricket regime.
Under the directorship of Graeme Smith, South Africa is now looking at a brighter future with the appointment of former legends Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis for mentorship roles.
Looking at the upcoming World Cup, the captaincy was handed over to Quinton de Kock, and soon after, Faf stepped down as captain of the South African team.
“The season gone by is probably one of the toughest I had to face over my career because it had a lot of different elements to it that wasn’t just cricket,” Faf was quoted as saying in a pre-recorded interview released by Cricket South Africa on Monday.
“I was up for the fight but the sheer amount of pressure that the India team put on us took us to a breaking point. It was obvious to me that as a Test team we weren’t near where we wanted to be,” added the former South African captain.
“Then the pressure really started pointing towards me and a lot of energy was pushed towards me. I just felt at the time that I had been fighting the good fight for the Proteas and I gave it my absolute everything,” Faf continued.
It was only after the 3-1 loss to England at home that Faf decided to end his role as captain.
“On reflection after the Test series, I went away and that was when I thought it was the right time,” concluded Du Plessis.
