Faf Du Plessis hints at retirement post 2019 World Cup

Johannesburg: South Africa Test and T20 skipper Faf du Plessis has hinted that he might call curtains to his illustrious international career after the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England.

The 32-year-old's comments came as he appeared on the cover of GQ magazine's May issue where he opened up about his international cricketing career.

Du Plessis said he sees the 50-over lucrative tournament as a 'swansong' on his then eight-year career for South Africa.

“I see myself heading towards the 2019 World Cup playing all formats of the game and then calling time on my career,” Du Plessis told the men's magazine.

The Proteas Test skipper also backed AB de Villiers' decision to rule himself out of the Test series against New Zealand, England and Bangladesh after his recovery from an elbow injury.

“I can't sit and say he (De Villiers) should be playing Test cricket because the guy has been doing it for 12 years and 106 Test matches,” said Du Plessis.

Du Plessis, however, admitted that de Villiers is the best batsman in the world and that South Africa require his presence in the squad, Sport24 reported.

“However, from a cricket point of view, I would obviously be the first to say that AB needs to play Tests for South Africa because he is one of the best batsmen in the world... I fully respect AB's decision but I don't agree with it,” he added.

Du Plessis took over the Test captaincy last year from then-injured de Villiers and led the Proteas to series victories over New Zealand (at home and away), Australia (away) and Sri Lanka (home).

Du Plessis has appeared in a total of 40 Tests scoring 2, 426 runs, 107 ODIs making 3, 943 runs and 36 T20Is having 1,129 runs.