Francois du Plessis, aka Faf, born on 13 July 1984, is South African International Cricketer and former captain of the team. A right-handed middle order batsman and a part time leg spin bowler. Faf made his test debut in November 2012.

He became the fourth South African to score a century on his debut test match. Du Plessis was also subsequently appointed as a captain of the T20 squad for the following series against New Zealand and later got his captaincy permanent in Feb 2013.

Du Plessis's calm nature and his set of skills as a middle order batsman, he was a perfect blende for international cricket. The set of skills and technique that he brings along makes his a great advantage for the team in today’s era of T20 cricket. Faf’s able to hit biggies is a classic blende of perfect pproach and strategy as a cricketer. His ODI debut against India with a compassionate and steady 50 runs in January 2011, Faf carried on with his excellent form in the 2011 ICC World Cup. South Africa was the only team to defeat the latter World Champions in 2011 world cup India in the league phase of the tournament.

Faf made his ODI debut on Jan 18, 2011 against India and made unbeaten 60 runs. After 6 days of his test series with the dangerous Aussies, in September, 2014, Faf made his second hundred with a score of 126 runs from 109 deliveries but unfortunately South Africa couldn’t win against the opposition and lost by 62 runs. Du Plessis made his third consecutive ODI hundred with a score of 121 runs from 140 deliveries in the same series ODI tri-series against Zimbabwe. His hard work didn’t pay off and he was 4 runs short of making a record for the most ODI hundreds by a batsman in any ICC ODI tournament. To hit his 4th ODI hundred, Faf was at 96 and tried to hit a boundary but was caught off by Australia's spear-head Mitchell Johnson. Hard luck!! His hard work paid off when South Africa won the tri-series against Australia by 6 wickets. Faf became the man of the series in the tournament.

After waiting a long for the test cap, Du Plessis was included in the squad on the Australian tour. Then the future deciding inning was played by him, a maiden century on one of the toughest pitches in the world. He ensured his spot is fix in the team for a longer time. South Africa won the series against Australia and were ICC Test Champions. Faf by the time became immovable figure in the South African lineup. The three big Amla, de Villiers and Faf du became great wall of South Africa.South Africa continued to do well in all formats except few occasions. There was a short span of struggling with form phase for du Plessis, he was dropped from the squad against the England series in 2016, AB de Villiers took over captaincy from Hashim Amla, amid injury and work-load de Villiers quit captaincy and du Plessis who was then perfect for the role took charge and led his team to victory against Australia in their home grounds. AB de Villiers when stepped down as captain in mid-2017 after defeat in Champions trophy, du Plessis was then appointed captain across all formats.

He was hired by 2010 IPL champions CSK - Chennai for USD 120,000. Along with several other un-capped players, Faf was one of the 30 Men squad for 2011 ICC World Cup team selection. He had several successful seasons in IPL just like his team CSK - Chennai (CSK) in IPL 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017.

Faf made his T20 debut against England at the Riverside ground on 8th September, 2012. Faf set an example in the T20 format as well with a semifinal finish in the 2014 ICC T20 world cup and 2015 ICC World Cup which ended with a heart break in the semi-finals.He has been a part of 47 matches since his debut, and has scored 1407 runs at a strike rate of 134.13 which includes a hundred and 8 fifties.

In 2016-17, When South Africa squad went for an Australian tour, RECORDS • Du Plessis scored his sixth century against Australia on Oct 2, 2016, becoming the second cricketer to have hit centuries in all formats as a captain. • Faf became the first batsman to score a century in all three formats on the same venue. • Du Plessis is the first player to score century in a day/night test match as a captain. Since, Faf continued to stack up runs in the ODIs, he had to face a lot of criticism for scoring slow sometimes. Faf started struggling in the test format and after able to score an only fifty in twelve innings in 2015-16 season, he was dropped from the final test against England in Jan 2016. Du Plessis, led South African squad in T20 World Cup 2014 and 2016, despite returning empty handed in both occasions, he never lost hopes from him and the team, retained the captaincy and kept on working hard patiently with his team as always.