“Happy with the result, but obviously sad [that] I’m leaving at a crucial stage in the tournament when you feel like the team can start doing some really good things in the tournament,” du Plessis told Ian Bishop at the post-match presentation. “For me, the challenge with the elbow is I’ve played with it (tennis elbow) for almost two years; I’ve had eight cortisone injections into my elbow.
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“So I’m at a stage where the cortisone is not good for my body anymore; so that’s why the operation is always the last resort. I didn’t want to do it, but [have] time off now. I’ve got to basically go from here to get off the plane into the hospital to get the surgery done.”
Du Plessis admitted that the tennis elbow had limited his power-hitting in his most recent game against Knight Riders, but he still found a way to pump the ball over the top in the powerplay. He was responsible for 40 of the 48 runs Kings had made in the first six overs. Du Plessis extended his tally to 57 off 36 balls before Andre Russell had him holing out.
“[During] the last while I did feel a little bit of loss of power – all because of the pain, which sometimes pulls the power back,” du Plessis said. “So you just have to play a game where you feel like maybe hitting at 80% power, and [on] fields like this [which are] a little bit smaller, you can just time the ball. But yeah, really happy with the innings today.
“I think we needed that in the powerplay, especially in my experience playing here and against these guys [TKR] – they’re a very strong powerplay attack. Akeal Hosein always does well; he gets one or two wickets upfront, and then they bowled really well. The fact that we could counterpunch that and get 50 after six [overs] was a great way to play off the front foot.”
“Always for me, it’s about pulling people in for the journey, and try and ask questions. And I feel that’s the best way, according to me, to run things,” du Plessis said. “You use the resources that you have. Roston Chase has been great. For me on the field, [it’s] just speaking to him about local players and asking questions. Johnson Charles is a great cricket brain. He’s not a guy who says a lot, but [is] a great thinker.
“Raza is someone who has played a lot of T20 and T10 cricket. So very much an experienced brain there; so it’s great to have those guys on the field and ask questions. Obviously, it’s a change, and probably you could say a big change because it’s someone stepping into the shoes for the first time with the St Lucia Kings. But luckily, we’ve got someone like Sammy there who will make sure for the first one or two games there will be some direction from his side. And then trust the guy on the field with the resources that he has at his disposal.”
Tom Curran and Tim David to join TKR
England allrounder Tom Curran, who carried Oval Invincibles to the Men’s Hundred title on Sunday, will link up with Trinbago Knight Riders as a temporary replacement for left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad, who has been picked in Afghanistan’s ODI side for the Asia Cup, which clashes with the CPL.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo