Cricket South Africa (CSA) strangely left out Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir in their congratulatory post for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after the MS Dhoni-led side won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 final on Friday.
On Saturday, CSA took to their official Instagram to only congratulate South African pacer Lungi Ngidi for CSK’s 2021 triumph before deleting the post due to the severe backlash.
“Congratulations @lungingidi on claiming the 2021 IPL with Chennai Super Kings”, read the caption.
No wonder the fans were surprised as they slammed CSA for their strange behaviour. Even Du Plessis, who played the final, and former Proteas speedster Dale Steyn reacted to the post. While Du Plessis was surprised, Steyn termed the act as ‘disgusting’.
“Really???” a shocked du Plessis responded.
“Who’s running this account? Last I checked, Faf isn’t even retired, Imran isn’t retired, both these guys have given years of service to CSA, and they [are] not worth a mention? Disgusting”, commented Steyn.
It is to be noted that Ngidi, Du Plessis, and Tahir were part of CSK during the fourteenth season of the cash-rich league. While Tahir didn’t get any game this year, Ngidi only featured in three fixtures. On the other hand, Du Plessis was one of the chief contributors for the Chennai-based franchise as he ended IPL 2021 as the second-highest run-getter after Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Du Plessis played all 16 matches and accumulated 633 runs at an average of 45.21 and a strike rate of 138.20. The right-handed batter smashed six half-centuries, including a match-winning 59-ball 86 run in the IPL 2021 final against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
After his epic performance with the willow, Du Plessis said: “That was a great day. 100th IPL game, special day. I loved my time here at CSK, almost 10 years. No 4 in the IPL trophy cabinet is really good.”