Cricket World Cup: Fatherhood changes Faf Du Plessis into a ‘Mr Cool’
South African captain now takes a calmer approach to life and the game
London: South African skipper Faf Du Plessis is trying to be a ‘Mr Cool’, aka his Chennai Super Kings teammate Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Though the former India captain has earned that title of being a cool captain, Du Plessis says that captaincy has helped him become a cool person.
Answering to a query as to whether he is still the same after he had once remarked: “I used to be a very macho guy and that my language was filthy. Even in IPL I would sit on the back of the bus and try to be cool and now I don’t do that anymore. I don’t want to be that kind of guy.
Hopefully, I am still cool. I’m still trying to be with the youngsters on the team, trying to gel my hair … trying to fit in with the cool kids.
“Hopefully, I am still cool. I’m still trying to be with the youngsters on the team, trying to gel my hair … trying to fit in with the cool kids. Like anyone sitting here today, whether you’re playing cricket or in business or in life or in sport, it’s no different. You know, the older you get the wiser you get. Being a father now, I can put everything into perspective.”
Du Plessis went on to say how cricket has changed him. “Cricket is a very important aspect of all of our lives, but it’s not everything. You know in life, there’s a lot more bigger things than winning and losing games of cricket. And that, perhaps, has changed for me. The fact that I’m no longer desperate; I want to win cricket games but I don’t need to win them.”
Du Plessis said he has created a nice culture in the team. “For me as captain, it’s about making sure that we can try and put the noise to one side and just relax as much as we can, try and have fun, control the things that we can do. Practise hard, practise well. Have a good language in our culture and hopefully that frees up the players to play their best cricket.”
Asked for a parting message from him to the fans, Du Plessis smilingly said: “Live from cloudy England, Faf du Plessis here saying hi. Hopefully, we can play some good cricket.”