South Africa Knocked Out of ICC World Cup 2019, Skipper Faf du Plessis Blames IPL

London: South Africa was knocked out of the ICC World Cup with a 49-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan at Lord’s on Sunday.

Pakistan, facing sharp criticism from both fans and former players after defeat to India in the marquee clash, kept alive their hopes of making the semifinals by registering their second win from six games.

After his team’s exit from the world cup, South African skipper Faf du Plessis said that he and the team management had tried to stop Kagiso Rabada from playing this season of the IPL (Indian Premier League) in order keep the ace fast baller fresh for the World Cup.

“I don’t think we’ll ever have a perfect answer for that because he’s probably biting on too much,” du Plessis said in response to a question on whether Rabada’s unmissable lack of potency on field was down to fatigue.

“But we did try and get him not to go to the IPL; to try and stay and get fresh. That wasn’t the case of — and then when he went there, we were like, let’s try and get him back halfway through the IPL because it’s important, not just for him, but a few other players”, the South African capital was quoted by the media as saying after the match.

Rabada bowled 303 overs in all competitions since the start of the year, 47 of which came at the IPL. He bagged 25 wickets at 14.72 from 12 games for Delhi Capitals.

Haris Sohail’s thunderous 89 and Babar Azam’s valuable 69 helped the 1992 champions to post a competitive total (308-7) while Shadab Khan, Amir and Wahab wrecked the batting line-up of South Africa with regular strikes in the must-win match.

Despite 63 from captain Faf du Plessis, South Africa could not keep the momentum in their favor and ended 259-9.