Despite his growing age, Faf du Plessis is not slowing down. The veteran 86 off 59 deliveries in the finale of IPL 2021 to lead Chennai Super Kings to fourth title. He was also the second highest run-scorer behind his teammate Ruturaj Gaikwad. In 16 games, he scored 633 runs at an average of 45.21.
The former Proteas recently spoke about curbing negative thoughts. He had aimed to finish among the top three run-scorers.
“I have a good batting voice and a bad batting voice. To give you a practical example of this voice, in this last IPL, I had a fantastic IPL, to the point where the goals I set for myself, which were to be in the top three [run-scorers] right from the beginning, I got along to this goal pretty well,” Faf Du Plessis told Paddy Upton on the ‘Lessons from the World’s Best’ podcast.
Despite his excellent form, he was not selected for the ICC T20 World Cup. He wanted to prove his critics wrong.
“I would have [listened to the negative voice] in the past, but then this positive voice goes, ‘Top three is your goal. You play your best when it’s high-pressure. You’re Mr. Dependable. When pressure is at the highest, that’s you. Ok, what do you need? 40 runs to get into the top three, well, no, I’ll make 83 runs to be number one. I want that Orange Cap.’ Also, I want to go, ‘Cricket South Africa, I just want to show you how good I am still if you have forgotten it,” he added