"I lost all respect and admiration for him" - Faf du Plessis recalls his first meeting with Daryl Cullinan

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis has made a stunning revelation about fellow countryman Daryl Cullinan during his early days of playing cricket. Du Plessis stated that he lost respect for one of his childhood heroes after being ill-treated by him.

The classy right-handed batter unraveled the incident in detail in his soon-to-be-launched autobiography, 'Faf: Through Fire'.

The veteran cricketer recalled being one of the 15 players picked for a provincial team alongside a few established cricketers. However, he was startled to see the way Cullinan, the captain at the time, reacted to greeting him.

"Shortly after I finished school, the then provincial teams merged to form franchises. Northern Titans and Easterns merged and Dave Nosworthy was appointed as coach and Daryll Cullinan as captain. During our first game at Centurion Park, about 15 players met in the dressing room for Nos to welcome us to this new environment."

"I was bowled over when I saw Daryll sitting there. I took my cricket bag and sat next to him. As I was taught at Affies, I greeted him with a respectful “hello, sir”. Nos joined us and started giving a generic speech. Then, a few minutes into the speech, Daryll raised his hand and told the coach to shut up. Then he turned to me: “What the f**k are you doing next to me? Why the f**k are you sitting here?”

The 38-year-old revealed that Cullinan disliked the youngster sitting next to him, continuing:

"The dressing room fell dead silent. Nos tried to brush off this interruption and continued talking. But after a minute or so, Daryll interrupted again: “No, stop." He then turned to me: “Youngster, take your bag and f**k off! Jacques Rudolph is a Test player, and he’s not even sitting next to me."

"He sits on a chair, but you sit on a f**king sofa. I froze.”Take your bag and sit in the bath,” he continued to scold. “You don’t deserve to sit here." In a matter of moments, the idol from my childhood went from hero to zero. I lost all respect and admiration for him."

Cullinan was indeed one of the most talented batsmen of his generation and enjoyed a flourishing career in both Test and ODI cricket. In 70 tests, he scored 4554 runs at 44.21 and accumulated 3860 ODI runs in 138 games at 32.99.

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"That day I resolved never to speak to anyone or act the way he had just done to me" - Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis. (Image Credits: Getty)

Du Plessis conceded that he wanted to set an example by never behaving that way with anyone moving forward and credited Graeme Smith for bringing a change.

He added:

"That day I resolved never to speak to anyone or act the way he had just done to me and I kept that promise when I became Protea captain. Fortunately, this kind of behavior was not part of the Protea environment I was introduced to under Graeme Smith’s leadership."

Du Plessis hasn't played for South Africa since February 2021. However, he could return to the side for next year's 50-over World Cup in India.