“It Was A Little Bit Pathetic,” Graeme Smith Criticizes Faf du Plessis Decision Of Proxy Captain
Oct 19, 2019 at 8:52 PM
Cricket is a game of luck as the match will turn which side is also mostly decided with the toss. South Africa Test captain Faf du Plessis expresses that how unlucky he is. Faf has lost consecutively 10 tosses in Asia.
In the ongoing third Test match in Ranchi, Faf du Plessis didn’t want his luck to affect the match so he took a proxy captain during the toss. But the experiment failed as Temba Bavuma also lost the toss. Faf du Plessis has lost 7 successive tosses away from home in Test matches.
After the toss, both the captain shook their hands. Virat Kohli had a mocking smile after he won the toss. Faf du Plessis, during the toss, said that it is important to win the toss in India as the pitch here helps the batters in starting.
“It shows that it isn’t meant to be (win the toss with a proxy captain). Important toss as this looks the driest surface of the series. It’s about the first innings really and we need to put runs on the board when we bat,” Faf du Plessis said at the toss.
Faf du Plessis, in earlier, a statement opined about his unluckiness. He said that he would send a proxy captain because it was necessary to win the toss.
“Probably will [send] somebody else to the toss tomorrow, I’ll give you that, because my record so far hasn’t been great, and then, yeah, if we put big runs on the board in the first innings, that’s where we need to start.”
Former South African captain Graeme Smith criticises Faf du Plessis
South Africa’s most successful Test captain, Graeme Smith opined that it was very unprofessional from Faf du Plessis. He didn’t accept such a decision from the captain.
“It was a quirky moment but for me, it was a little bit pathetic,” Graeme Smith told Star Sports.
He said that rather than blaming your luck, you should focus on the performance. He opined that it was important to win the toss in the subcontinent but you couldn’t blame it for team’s poor performance.
“It just shows the mindset of the South African side. I didn’t enjoy seeing that. I would rather see the South Africa captain stand there, own his position.
“You know, they are looking at the wrong places for the reasons they have lost the game. Unfortunately, they haven’t played well enough. Yes, winning the toss in the sub-continent is a nice thing to do but if you play well enough, you can still compete.”
South Africa has lost the first two Test matches in the three-match Test series against India. Proteas is under the transition period as inexperienced players are playing in this Test series. They are not able to set themselves in the field. The last and third Test match is the last chance for du Plessis-led Proteas team to show their talent.