Faf du Plessis has announced that he is stepping down as South Africa Test and Twenty20 captain, claiming that it was for the teams' "best interests".
The 35-year-old batsman Faf du Plessis announced that he will vacate his position as South Africa Test and Twenty20 captain and that it was "one of the toughest decisions to make".
Du Plessis captained the Proteas in 112 matches across all formats since 2012, scoring 5,101 runs, including 11 centuries, as skipper. He was rested for both the recent one-day international and T20 series against England, where Quinton de Kock replaced him as one-day captain.
In January, he denied reports that he will be retiring after the Test series. He said he was considering the Twenty20 World Cup, which runs from October 18 to November 15.
Du Plessis said: Â "The last few weeks of rest away from the game have given me a lot of perspective on the great privilege and honor I have had in representing and leading my country in the three formats of this wonderful game."
"It has been a rewarding, sometimes tough and other times a lonely road, but I would not replace the experience for anything, because it has made me the man that I am proud to be today," he added.
He argued: "As the team heads into a new direction, with new leaders and a young crop of players, I feel it will be in the best interests of South African cricket to relinquish the captaincy in all formats."
Du Plessis first captained South Africa in a T20 series against New Zealand in 2012 and was named permanent T20 skipper in 2013. He eventually assumed full-time captaincy of all three formats in 2017, replacing AB de Villiers.
"In a perfect world I would have loved to lead the team in the Tests for the rest of the season, as well as the T20 World Cup - but sometimes the most important attribute of a leader is to be selfless," he claimed.
