MUMBAI, India - Faf du Plessis scored a 42-ball undefeated 67 for the Chennai Super Kings to help his team to a two-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.
And as captain MS Dhoni reflected on Du Plessis’s knock on Tuesday, in just his fifth outing this season, he once again went back to experience.
“Faf's innings is where experience counts,” he said. “It's not easy to not play a lot of games, but I always say you need to train your mind as well. That's where the experience comes in. You visualise what your role is, how you can contribute, and Faf has been brilliant.”
“The vision that the franchise had, of keeping experienced players, was something a lot of people questioned,” said Du Plessis. “We have a few old bodies in the team, but in big moments you want experience there.
“There's been a lot of occasions – go back to Dwayne Bravo early on in the season (against Mumbai Indians) – so it's nice we have so many experienced players to rely on.
"Chennai's been to seven finals, so the experience of big games, MS understands what to ask of the players. We're playing our best cricket at the moment.”
Chennai stand a chance to win their third IPL trophy, but even if they don’t, they have already dented the larger narrative – the commonly-held T20 theory is changing.
Thanx so much to everyone for the kind messages.. Can’t believe that we won that game last night. Special to be there at the end. Looking forward to the final on Sunday pic.twitter.com/uAkXJqqLy7
— Faf Du Plessis (@faf1307) May 23, 2018