Faf du Plessis blasted for blaming IPL as the reason behind South Africa’s woes at World Cup 2019

South Africa were booted out of the ICC World Cup 2019 on Sunday after they slumped to a 49-run loss to Pakistan at Lord’s. This is only the second time since the Proteas made their debut in the Cricket World Cup in 1992 that they have failed to make the knock-outs of the premier tournament (after 2003). The Proteas started off their campaign with three consecutive losses and never could recover from the distress. The outcome of their campaign was particularly disappointing for a number of senior players who are at the threshold of retirement, including captain Faf du Plessis.

The 34-year-old du Plessis, the sixth captain to have led South Africa in the World Cup, came under the heat following his team’s early exit. However, he faced even more criticism for holding the Indian Premier League (IPL) responsible for the poor show. He said the South African players were not fresh when they came to the World Cup and made a particular mention about Kagiso Rabada, one of their main trump cards who has let the team and fans down so far in the tournament.

“So I don’t think it’s not necessarily just the IPL, but it was important for a few guys to rest; and the fact that they didn’t meant that they — you know, they came into the tournament not fresh. That’s not an excuse; that’s just a fact. And KG (Kagiso Rabada) is — you can see that his pace is probably a little bit down from where he normally is,” du Plessis said at a press conference, adding that he even had tried to stop Rabada from playing the IPL.

Du Plessis himself played IPL

The Twitterati was not impressed with the South African captain’s version though. Du Plessis himself was also a part of the IPL and featured till the last game as his franchise Chennai Super Kings made the finals. Rabada played for Delhi Capitals and had a terrific time with the ball till he left early because of an injury scare, along with Dale Steyn. He was the highest wicket-taker at the point but lost the top spot to compatriot Imran Tahir.

At the World Cup, Rabada had the major responsibility as Steyn was ruled out with injury but the bowler has managed to pick just six wickets with the best of 2 for 39 against India. He has bowled 303 overs since the start of the year and of them, 47 had come in the IPL alone. He averages 50.83 with the ball in his maiden World Cup, which is far worse a figure than his overall 27.74.

Du Plessis faced a backlash on the social media which said that having played he IPL himself, it was not right for him to blame the T20 tournament when it came to others.

Here are some of the reactions that the Twitterati had on du Plessis’ comment:

Dear @faf1307

This is a commonsense reminder to u

Most of all Indian team player, Even Willimson, Smith, Warner were busy with IPL, but they are doing good at worldcup too #WorldCup2019

Don't blame only to RABADA…Blame yourself first…Then team https://t.co/dKdn9J9FqL

— Dr JD 💯% Follow Back (@jagadishexplore) June 24, 2019

"We did try and get him not to go to the IPL; to try and stay and get fresh. And then when he went there, we were like, let's try and get him back halfway through."

Faf du Plessis, when asked if Rabada's lack of potency in the WC was down to fatigue: https://t.co/Wka2v7aIb4 pic.twitter.com/mBKMslrwSX

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) June 24, 2019

Faf du Plessis had blamed IPL for Dale Steyn's injury, which was somewhat true. But now he blames IPL for Kagiso Rabada's mundane performance. This is lame from SA captain. Rabada was bowling only four overs per match in the IPL. #CWC19 #PAKvSA

— Gautam chauhan (@Gautamchauhan2) June 24, 2019

Faf du Plessis: "We are out of #CWC19 because of IPL."

RaGa: "We lost #LokSabhaElections2019 because of EVM."#SameThing

— Siddharth Chhaya🇮🇳 (@siddtalks) June 24, 2019

Bumrah played the whole season, find some better excuses @OfficialCSA @faf1307

— Rishabh Sharma (@rishabhnannu) June 24, 2019

Faf Du Plessis has been blaming ipl for each players performance. Conveniently forgetting that he played the entire ipl. This time it is purely a leadership failure. They did not even get to the point where they normally start choking.

— Sachin Girishkumar (@sachin_gk) June 24, 2019

Previously you blamed IPL on steyn's fitness and now again for Rabada poor performance. Then being as a captain you should have taken initiative on not playing IPL!

— CricFan (@Cena87) June 24, 2019

Bumrah also played IPL

— Real McCoy (@MeastoehMoyo) June 24, 2019

What is your performance faf!

— Santanu maity (@Santanu77380983) June 24, 2019

Jofra was at Ipl, bumrah played till final,Tahir played till late stages. It's not about fatigue. It's about form and confidence. When there is enough support from the batsman, kasigo will have enuf motivation to do well.

— Dr stilinski (@raystilinski) June 24, 2019

Then y faf played IPL?? He also can take rest and get fresh for worldcup😏. If he did that, who knows rabada can do the same then SA played well and reach the final, then go home with cup 🙇if you need that then u may take tough decisions faf..

— Balaji (@lovelybalajith) June 24, 2019

When Faf himself played IPL, how can he ask any other player to not participate in it?

Bumrah, bhuvneshwar, shami, bolt, malinga, russel, stonis etc played.

Blaming #IPL2019 isn't the solution.
Its just shifting blames.

— Gaurav Jain (@lazysethji) June 24, 2019

Excuses excuses hold that L @faf1307

— mohit (@MohitMohit9896) June 24, 2019