I Received Death Threats: CSK Player Faf Du Plessis

Some instances on and off the field traumatize sportsmen a lot. South African star batsman Faf du Plessis revealed one such incident that he faced during the 2011 World Cup. He went on to add that he and his wife faced death threats after South Africa lost that match against New Zealand.

It was the quarterfinal match between South Africa and New Zealand which was held in Dhaka. Black Caps have posted a total of 221/8 on the scoreboard and in turn, the Proteas got all-out for a low score of 172. Though du Plessis made 36, he couldn’t save his team from a 49-run defeat. Faf came into bat when SA’s score was 121/4. There was AB de Villiers on the other side who kept fans’ hopes alive by scoring 35. That was when he got run out when the duo tried for a tight single. Due to that mishap, du Plessis faced abuses and threats from fans.

Speaking about the incident, he said, “I received death threats after that. My wife received death threats. We turned on social media and we were blown away. It became very personal.”

“There were some very offensive things said that I won’t repeat. It makes you introverted towards people and you put a shield up. All players go through this and it forces us to keep our circles very small. It’s why I’ve worked so hard on creating a safe space within our camp,” he further added.

du Plessis reached back home recently after the IPL 2021 was suspended indefinitely due to the surge in coronavirus cases in India. He was one of the leading run-scorers of the tournament with 320 runs under his belt in seven games.