Some lions don’t hunt in pairs; their roar alone suffices to subject the prey under a spell of fear. One such lion is Faf du Plessis, former Proteas captain who was ignored from the selection of the T20 World cup, 2021, this is when he’s been plying his trade in the very format where his team wishes to scale glory, a template of cricket that’s about as exciting as it is thrilling.
But then, lions do have a thing for flirting with danger- do they not? They tend to get carried away- even though erroneously- in their desire to hunt big.
Not longer after he sustained a serious concussion in the PSL, as a result of which he had to step aside from the game, Faf du Plessis suffered another concussion hit.
This time, however, in an IPL contest, whilst his team Chennai Super Kings were embroiled in a tussle with the Rajasthan Royals.
The end result of colliding with Mustafizur, whilst attempting a run, ended in painful hits to both cricketers on the opposite side of the IPL camps.
In the sixth over his CSK’s innings, Faf attempted a single off a slower ball by Mustafizur (of Bangladesh, playing for RR), when a throw from the fielder to the stumps ended up bringing the left-arm pacer, not realising he was in the path of Faf, in contact with the right-hander, the CSK batsman rushing toward the bowler’s end.
Luckily, even as the hit was fast and painful, both cricketers are safe and there’s no reason to worry as such.
All of that being said, here’s what sports platform Inside Sport (insidesport.co)
The duo could be seen watching the delivery and du Plessis looked in deep trouble.
The physio quickly walked to the field and rubbed around his neck. Unfortunately, Du Plessis did not last long and departed after playing a couple of balls. He ended up scoring 25 runs off 19 balls comprising a couple of boundaries and a six.
This is not the first time Faf du Plessis has faced a concussion issue. Earlier this year, the right-handed batsman had suffered a concussion in Pakistan Super League (PSL 2021). He had injured himself while playing for Quetta Gladiators in the PSL. was taken to a hospital in Abu Dhabi soon after his tragic collision with Quetta Gladiators teammate Mohammad Hasnain during a game in June. He was also ruled out of the PSL and the recently-concluded The Hundred. CSK will keep their fingers crossed!
Moving on, one of South Africa’s finest batsmen of any era and an individual hailed for his calmness under pressure and ability to extract the best out of himself amid adversity, du Plessis has been one of the best batsmen in the ongoing IPL.
This year alone, he’s scored 460 runs from just 12 outings with the bat, in two of which he remained undefeated at the crease. Not too bad for someone who’ll turn 38 year July, i.e., 2022. As a matter of fact, at present, Faf du Plessis is just 238 runs away from scoring 3,000 IPL runs, along with twenty fifties and a highest score of ninety six.
We wish Faf, who thankfully hasn’t taken all that much of a hit, speedy recovery. Needless to say, approaching forty in another couple of years, this isn’t some spring chicken, bold and brave that he may be.