St Lucia Kings captain Faf du Plessis has been sidelined from the rest of CPL 2023 with a long-standing tennis-elbow injury, for which he will now undergo surgery. Zimbabwe allrounder Sikandar Raza, who made his debut for Kings only earlier this month, will take over as the captain of the side. Kings have also roped in Colin Munro, the highest run-getter among overseas players in CPL history, as du Plessis' replacement.
After powering Kings past Trinbago Knight Riders in Basseterre on Saturday, du Plessis said he would undergo surgery after reaching South Africa. And on Kings' Instagram channel, he suggested that he could be out of action for about three months.
"Happy with the result, but obviously sad [that] I'm leaving at a crucial stage in the tournament when you feel like the team can start doing some really good things in the tournament," du Plessis told Ian Bishop at the post-match presentation. "For me, the challenge with the elbow is I've played with it (tennis elbow) for almost two years; I've had eight cortisone injections into my elbow.
"So I'm at a stage where the cortisone is not good for my body anymore; so that's why the operation is always the last resort. I didn't want to do it, but [have] time off now. I've got to basically go from here to get off the plane into the hospital to get the surgery done."
Du Plessis admitted that the tennis elbow had limited his power-hitting in his most recent game against Knight Riders, but he still found a way to pump the ball over the top in the powerplay. He was responsible for 40 of the 48 runs Kings had made in the first six overs. Du Plessis extended his tally to 57 off 36 balls before Andre Russell had him holing out.
"[During] the last while I did feel a little bit of loss of power - all because of the pain, which sometimes pulls the power back," du Plessis said. "So you just have to play a game where you feel like maybe hitting at 80% power, and [on] fields like this [which are] a little bit smaller, you can just time the ball. But yeah, really happy with the innings today.
"I think we needed that in the powerplay, especially in my experience playing here and against these guys [TKR] - they're a very strong powerplay attack. Akeal Hosein always does well; he gets one or two wickets upfront, and then they bowled really well. The fact that we could counterpunch that and get 50 after six [overs] was a great way to play off the front foot."
Du Plessis' injury-enforced absence is a significant blow to Kings. He was their second-highest run-getter last season - behind Johnson Charles - and fourth-highest overall, with 332 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 169. Overall, his leadership has been central to Kings' progress over the past two years.
Raza has only had one stint as captain in recognised franchise T20 cricket - with Dambulla Aura in the LPL last year, when Dasun Shanaka was injured, but du Plessis backed Raza and the rest of Kings' leadership group to build on their early success this season. They're currently on top of the table, with six points in five games.
"Always for me, it's about pulling people in for the journey, and try and ask questions. And I feel that's the best way, according to me, to run things," du Plessis said. "You use the resources that you have. Roston Chase has been great. For me on the field, [it's] just speaking to him about local players and asking questions. Johnson Charles is a great cricket brain. He's not a guy who says a lot, but [is] a great thinker.
"Raza is someone who has played a lot of T20 and T10 cricket. So very much an experienced brain there; so it's great to have those guys on the field and ask questions. Obviously, it's a change, and probably you could say a big change because it's someone stepping into the shoes for the first time with the St Lucia Kings. But luckily, we've got someone like Sammy there who will make sure for the first one or two games there will be some direction from his side. And then trust the guy on the field with the resources that he has at his disposal."
Du Plessis will turn 40 next July, but he could be in the fray to return to the South Africa side with the 2024 T20 World Cup in mind.
Tom Curran and Tim David to join TKR
England allrounder Tom Curran, who carried Oval Invincibles to the Men's Hundred title on Sunday, will link up with Trinbago Knight Riders as a temporary replacement for left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad, who has been picked in Afghanistan's ODI side for the Asia Cup, which clashes with the CPL.
Australia's Tim David will also join TKR as a replacement for Rilee Rossouw, who is no longer available for the CPL. However, David himself will not be around for Knight Riders' first six league matches, so Ireland wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker has been brought in as a temporary replacement. David will reunite with Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard, who was his batting coach at Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023.