Faf du Plessis: “The T20 World Cup is in Australia and that’s not too far away, so hopefully we’ll be back for that and that will probably be my last international tour I would think”

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South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has revealed that he plans to retire from Twenty20 Internationals after the World Twenty20 in 2020.

Du Plessis will be 36 at the time of the major tournament, and admitted that it will likely be the last chapter of his international career in the shortest format.

“The T20 World Cup is in Australia and that’s not too far away, so hopefully we’ll be back for that and that will probably be my last international tour I would think,” Du Plessis was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Meanwhile, Du Plessis said the plethora of domestic Twenty20 competitions around the world makes it hard for every team to field their best side on a consistent basis.

With lucrative contracts on offer at these competitions, many players flock to them instead of playing international cricket.

With that in mind, Du Plessis feels that the International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to do something to ensure most countries can have their best possible team on a regular basis.

“From our perspective, T20 cricket for us over the last two or three years has been a case of bringing in the young guys, giving them an opportunity, so we never really play our strongest XI, which isn’t great for the international game,” he said. “Football (has) a situation where it’s playing for your clubs and then there’s an international tournament. In my opinion that’s a good place for T20 cricket to be in, because you shouldn’t be trying to compete with the leagues because they are so strong at the moment.

“And I can see the same with other teams – it’s almost never their strongest teams, and fans come to watch the best players play.

“That’s where I see the game moving forward, but the T20 World Cup in 2020 is something I’m really looking forward to … that will probably be the last tournament for me.”