Big Statement on Australia’s Top Athlete: “Don’t Have Time for Bullies,” by Faf Du Plessis

The former captain of South Africa, Faf du Plessis, has stated that he has no patience for the “bully” David Warner of Australia.

In an interview with the BBC to coincide with the recent publication of his book, ‘Faf: Through Fire,’ Du Plessis remembered the Australia batsman’s role in a now-famous incident that occurred during the first Test in Durban in 2018. The event took place in 2018.

In the players’ tunnel during tea on the fourth day of the test match, David Warner began shouting a torrent of insults at Quinton de Kock. At the time, South Africa’s Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock were batting to preserve the match.

Du Plessis, who had already been kicked off the team, appeared from the home dressing room with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, which helped to calm down the crowd.

The final score was Australia’s victory by 118 runs.

But it was South Africa that would end up winning the series, which would result in Warner, Australia’s captain Steve Smith, and batsman Cameron Bancroft all being banned for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal known as “Sandpapergate” in the third Test. This victory was a highlight of South Africa captain Faf du Plessis’s four-year tenure as the team’s leader.

As Du Plessis, now 38 years old, was reflecting on the Durban encounter for the BBC, he stated, “Australia wanted to bully us.”

“We had to stand up for ourselves. They were rude to us during the entire game, but the way that we battled back swung the tide of the series.

While he did have some compassion for the easily influenced Bancroft and admiration for the gifted Smith, he did not feel the same way about Warner.

“He was a bully,” claimed Du Plessis. “I don’t have time for bullies.”

‘Self-doubt’

But Du Plessis, who retired from red-ball international cricket last year after a career in which he scored over 4,000 runs (including 10 hundreds) in 69 Tests at an average of 40 and had a batting average of 40, did not make any attempt to avoid his role in other controversial instances.

There was “Zipgate,” which occurred when he was found guilty of rubbing the ball on the zipper of his trousers during a match against Pakistan in 2013, and there was “Mintgate,” which occurred during a match against Australia in 2016, when he was seen applying saliva from a mint onto the ball. Both of these incidents have been dubbed “gates.”

“I’m not perfect,” he said. “I have never asserted that I am. I’ve never been the most talented player.

“Yes, I am talented; nevertheless, in order to get where I am today, it was a lot of hard work and mental toughness that got me here.”

However, the batsman argued that his was a “story about failure,” and he said, “I wanted to create a book about leadership, about relationships, about hardship…

I used to be a person who was plagued by feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. And that’s totally fine.”