Photo Credit: SA20 League
The Joburg Super Kings will be hoping injured captain Faf du Plessis has a speedy recovery ahead of Betway SA20 Season 2.
Du Plessis has undergone an operation to his elbow this week after leaving the Caribbean Premier League midway through the season.
The veteran could potentially be out for three months with his comeback planned for the start of Betway SA20 Season 2. The Joburg Super Kings are set to play the tournament’s opening game against defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape at St George’s Park on 10 January 2024.
Du Plessis admitted that he carried the injury for a lengthy period of time before deciding to go under the knife.
“For me, the challenge with the elbow is I’ve played with it for almost two years; I’ve had eight cortisone injections into my elbow,” he said after striking 57 off 36 balls in his final game for the St Lucia Kings earlier this week.
“So, I’m at a stage where the cortisone is not good for my body anymore; so that’s why the operation is always the last resort. I didn’t want to do it, but I have time off now.”
Du Plessis is hoping the surgery will help him regain his powerful six-hitting game.
“During the last while I did feel a little bit of loss of power – all because of the pain, which sometimes pulls the power back,” he said.
“So you just have to play a game where you feel like maybe hitting at 80% power.”
The 39-year-old has had a busy year since Betway SA20 Season 1 with him leading both the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and Texas Super Kings in the inaugural Major League Cricket tournament.
The former Proteas’ Men’s team captain is essential though to the success of the Joburg Super Kings. He was JSK’s leading run-scorer – and the tournament’s second overall – with 369 runs at an average of 41 in Season 1, while also entering the record books as the first Betway SA20 centurion.
Name of Author: SA20 League
SA20, officially known as the Betway SA20 for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa organized by Cricket South Africa (CSA). First held in the 2023 season, the league features six city-based teams. Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the first two editions of the tournament.
