CPL 2021 | Really looking forward to getting back out on the field, says Faf du Plessis
After having a tough three months due to a concussion, Faf du Plessis reckoned that he is looking forward to getting back on the field. Du Plessis will lead the Saint Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League and will later join the Chennai Super Kings camp in UAE for the second leg of IPL 2021.
Faf du Plessis sustained a concussion injury during the PSL tournament when his head collided with his teammate Mohammad Hasnain's knee while fielding near the boundary line. The former South Africa captain was taken to the hospital following the fatal collison. Earlier, du Plessis made himself available for The Hundred, but he could not regain full fitness to take part in the inaugural season of the tournament in England.
Faf du Plessis is all set to make a comeback after three months, and the right-hand batsman is hopeful that he can get back on the field with full fitness.
"There's a lot of cricket this year that I still need to play. As I mentioned earlier, missing three months of cricket is not something that is very nice. So I am just really looking forward to getting back out on the field."
The 37-year-old reckoned that the after effects of the injury were much more serious than he expected, which made him stay out of the game for a while.
"It has been a tough three months," he said. "I didn't expect it to take this long and I also didn't expect it to be quite as severe. But I feel like I am at the end of it, which really is pleasing for myself”.
Du Plessis stated that he has worked hard to get back to normal with good rehab programs and he is trying his best to pass the last hurdle with full intensity.
"I went over for the first match [in the Hundred] to try and play, but I still suffered quite severe concussion symptoms quite badly, and especially with the batting it got worse," du Plessis, who will lead the St Lucia Kings in the CPL, said. "It's been three or four weeks since then which I have worked hard in trying to get back to normal with a good rehab program, and specialists in England helped me with. Today is the last hurdle when [I am] just making sure I pass the full practice at full intensity. And if I do that, then I'll be ready to play [his team's CPL opener]."
The St. Lucia Kings will play their first match in the tournament against Jamaica Tallawahs on Saturday. The former Proteas skipper is hopeful that he will receive valuable suggestions from Daren Sammy, who joined the staff team, and Andy Flower, St.Lucia Kings head coach.
"On the field, I would rely a lot on the other players to help me," he said. "I am generally a guy that asks a lot of questions. In any way, I ask for help and guidance along the way. Daren Sammy is one of those guys, he is a very experienced leader within the side so we will tap into his plan a lot. Andy has worked with the side as well, so we'll tap into his brain a lot. And then on the field, you rely on your experience as a captain to make those instinctive, gut decisions that you would need to make when you know it is so hard in the middle."
After the completion of the CPL tournament in the West Indies, du Plessis will join the CSK camp in UAE to feature in the second leg of IPL 2021. The Chennai Super Kings opening batsman has scored 320 runs from seven matches in the first half of IPL 2021 in India. The right-hand batsman is hopeful that he can continue his good run in the second leg of IPL 2021 as well.
"I think our squad at Chennai is better balanced for the Dubai leg than it was for the previous [half of] IPL," he said. "Second thing [is that] we had been playing some really good cricket in the first half of the IPL, so I hope that form is something that can hopefully continue - similar to myself, had a really strong first half of the IPL. So I'd like to continue where I left off. But for now, it is just about getting back to playing cricket.
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