Why is Faf du Plessis not playing for SA?

Faf du Plessis is not playing for South Africa (SA) again because he was not named to the squad.

In February 2021, Faf du Plessis announced his retirement from Test cricket to focus on the 2021 and 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cups.

However, he was not picked for the T20 World Cup 2021 by Cricket South Africa despite finishing as the second-highest run-getter for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with 633 runs in the IPL 2021 which ended a few days before the ICC event commenced.

In a 2021 interview with ESPNCricinfo, Faf du Plessis asserted that the main issue was CSA’s unrealistic expectations of him playing in the country all the time.

He further said that both parties couldn’t come to a decision or arrangement which allowed him to continue playing in overseas leagues.

“Last year, when I played for South Africa against England in the series there, the plan was still very much to play in the World Cup. And the talks were that leading up to that. But at that time, it was just really difficult for Cricket South Africa and myself to find something that allows me to still play overseas.”

“Because that was the reason why I obviously retired from Test cricket especially. So they tried to, but we couldn’t find a middle ground and I think they wanted people that are available all the time. That made it a challenge for the guys like myself and Imran Tahir because we were playing overseas [franchise leagues] as well,” Du Plessis explained to ESPNCricinfo.

“So I think that’s the challenge now because we are playing overseas, if they don’t want us to play all the games, it’s probably an unrealistic expectation,” Du Plessis added.