Time Has Come for Me to Help Grow Other Leaders, Says du Plessis

He might not be the captain of the South Africa cricket team anymore, but Faf du Plessis says that he is a natural leader and is enjoying his new leadership role of mentoring the youngsters with an eye on the future of the national team.

“I love captaincy, it is a part of who I am. I have captained since the age of 13. I still look at myself as a leader before a player, so I enjoy that more than anything else.

“I will always miss it, but I do think that the time has come for me to move on to a position of growing other leaders, something that I feel is lacking in our system,” du Plessis said in an interview released by Cricket South Africa.

The former skipper believes that the time has come where he takes the backseat and helps the youngsters in the team and also guide them with his experience of playing international cricket over the years.

“I want to make sure I can create some sort of value towards that, helping guys with someone who is there to guide them and, if they want to, to have someone they can talk to within the team. It is a great opportunity for five or six guys to come together and create a leadership group in the Proteas that will drive the culture for the next four or five years,” he explained.

While he has not been a part of all the three formats for the Proteas post the 2019 World Cup, du Plessis made it clear that he wasn’t looking to drop out from any of the formats and is still keen to perform across formats for the national team.

“I still love playing for the Proteas. I still see myself adding huge value. I am extremely motivated and keen to play in all three formats. This time away from the game has made sure that the hunger is still there for me and that is a big thing for players, to really still love what you do.”