IPL 2019: 3 surprise omissions by teams in the first week

#2 Faf du Plessis (CSK)

Warming the bench in IPL is nothing new for Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis was the hero for CSK in last year’s Qualifier 1 against Sunrisers. In the first qualifier, chasing 140 for a win, CSK was reduced to 62 for 6 with Faf the lone man standing. The South African was not in the best of form going into the playoffs. But he stood his ground while wickets tumbled at the other end. He remained not out on 67 off 42 balls to take CSK directly into the finals.

Du Plessis was expected to be an automatic selection for CSK’s first match against RCB in the season opener. But for some strange reasons, CSK decided to go in with only 3 overseas players and left out du Plessis.

Again the same trend continued in CSK’s next match against Delhi Capitals. Perhaps the presence of an additional batting option in the form of Kedhar Jadhav this year might have prompted the CSK management to ignore the South African skipper for the first two matches. As such, CSK was playing one batsman short in both the low scoring matches.

CSK’s tactic might change in today’s match against Rajasthan Royals and Faf du Plessis might after all find a place in the playing XI.