Half-yearly report: Rating ODI Captains of top 10 teams in 2019

The South African team had won 13 of their 16 bilateral series since the 2015 World Cup and earlier in the year they pasted Sri Lanka at home with a margin of 5-0. The side was looking an unstoppable force as they didn’t allow the opposition to bat 50 overs in any of the games.

Proteas also discovered a new bowling gem in the form of Anrich Nortje who made his cut to the World Cup squad.  They were given the tag of favourites before the start of the 2019 World Cup. Apart from a couple of batting frailties, the side was looking balanced. Above all the African nation was looking calm under the helm of Faf du Plessis.

Their World Cup campaign started with three consecutive losses and from there on the matters worsened for the team with off-field issues dominating the action on the field. Especially Faf who blamed the IPL for the team’s poor performances. He was trying to mask his team’s failure with petty arguments. Though he scored 387 runs in the series his best innings came in the last tie of the World Cup.