Faf du Plessis will captain South Africa's Test side in India, but there may soon be a new leader in the South Africa's white-ball sides as Cricket South Africa begins to chart a course for the next World Cup in four years' time.
CSA's acting director of cricket, Corrie van Zyl, confirmed on Tuesday that du Plessis would remain in charge of the Test side, ending the uncertainty and speculation that had accompanied the major shake-up in South African cricket's structures over the weekend. There had been a question mark over du Plessis' reign when CSA released a statement suggesting that an "interim captain" might lead in India.
"Faf will be the captain of the Test team and then we will talk about the white-ball strategy to 2023 and how that will affect decision-making," van Zyl said, during a press briefing on Tuesday morning.
"It's important to look forward to 2023 as well. We need a strategy to 2023, so in terms of appointing the captain we will look at how we approach that. We are having a selection meeting in the next day and a half to confirm that."
For his part, du Plessis is still keen on leading South Africa, while remaining realistic on the inevitable need for change at some point. "I'm 35, I've probably got two or three years left, hopefully more. You can't plan for that kind of thing, you have to try and plan for what every year looks like - and those are what the conversations with CSA will have to be," du Plessis said after CSA's awards ceremony on Saturday night, at which he was named one of the Cricketers of the Year. "What does year one look like? Year two? And then if there is a year three, what does that look like?"
"Even though I was disappointed after the World Cup, it is still special to play for this team," du Plessis added. "I wasn't thinking about quitting, it's about weighing up what the next year looks like in terms of all three formats. It's a lot of time away playing cricket. As you get older you have to start looking at other tournaments. That's the balancing act that would need to happen."
A new short-format leader will be trialled soon, and the South Africa A team, as well as the senior men's and women's sides, are all due to travel to India in the coming months. The A squads were announced in June, with Temba Bavuma in charge of the 50-over side, while an interim selection committee - headed by van Zyl - will deliberate on the senior South Africa squads for India this week.
Van Zyl added that he is already negotiating with an interim team director for the men's tour, after coach Ottis Gibson and his staff were removed from their positions when CSA decided on a radical re-structure in the way cricket is run after the World Cup failure.
The A tour kicks off at the end of August, while the senior men's side will play the first of three T20Is on September 15 in Dharamsala. The Test series gets underway on October 2 in Visakhapatnam.