Faf du Plessis, the former captain of South Africa, has revealed that he and his wife, Imari Visser, received death threats on social media following their embarrassing loss to New Zealand (by 49 runs) in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Chasing 222, Graeme Smith and Co were bowled out for 172 runs 40 balls short of their 50 overs. Faf du Plessis batted at number six and scored 36 runs off 43 balls at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. However, his knock went in vain, as the Proteas lost yet another knockout game in a world tournament.
Recalling the incident, Faf told how after the defeat, his wife received death threats and the happening made them ‘introverted’.
“I received death threats after that [match]. 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,” du Plessis was quoted as saying in ESPNcricinfo’s Cricket Monthly.
“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 stated.
As long as the match was concerned, Faf du Plessis came to bat when the South African scoreboard showed 121 for four in 27.4 overs. Nathan McCullum got rid of JP Duminy, who scored 3 runs from 12 balls. But in the same over when Faf came to bat, South Africa saw a huge downfall.
AB de Villiers, who was looking set for a big knock, got run out after a horrendous mix-up. He was batting on 35 with four fours when he got out. After the dismissal, South Africa collapsed to 146 for 8 in 37.4 overs.
And after Faf’s dismissal in the 43rd over, South Africa lost all the hopes as the lower-order batters couldn’t get into the double digits as South Africa got knocked out of the world event.