Faf du Plessis

Profile details

FULL NAME

Faf du Plessis

TEAMS

Dubai Capitals

A captain bought to defend a title

Faf du Plessis was born on 13 July 1984 and led South Africa across formats, including at World Cups, before stepping away from international cricket to play franchise leagues full-time. His record is that of a professional who rarely fails: a Test average above 40, more than a century of one-day internationals, and a T20 career built on timing and placement rather than brute force. He won the IPL with Chennai Super Kings in 2021 and then captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru, where his opening partnership with Virat Kohli became one of the league's most productive.

• Role: Batter
• Team: Dubai Capitals
• Batting: Right-handed
• Bowling: Right-arm leg-break
• Born: 13 July 1984

He has played T20 cricket in almost every major league, from the IPL to the Caribbean Premier League, and he arrives in Dubai as the most experienced captain in the ILT20. The Capitals are the defending champions, and their decision to spend $300,000 — their largest auction outlay — on a 41-year-old captain says everything about what they think wins short tournaments: a calm head at the top of the order.

What the captaincy changes

Du Plessis captains a side that already knows how to win this league, which makes his job different from building a team from scratch. His task is to keep a rebuilt squad calm through ten league matches in 24 days, to get the best out of a top order that includes Phil Salt and Marcus Stoinis, and to make the bowling calls — when to use Mustafizur at the death, when to trust Noor Ahmad — that decide close games. Hemang Badani coaches the side; du Plessis runs it on the field.

With the bat, he is most likely to open or bat at three, where his ability to find gaps in the powerplay sets up the hitters behind him. He does not need to be the fastest scorer in this side — Salt and Stoinis do that — he needs to be the one who is still there in the 15th over.

A top order built for Dubai

The Capitals play seven of their ten league matches in Dubai, and their batting is built for the ground: true pitches, fast outfield, short boundaries square of the wicket. Du Plessis, Salt and Stoinis are three of the most destructive top-order batters in the league, and on a good Dubai evening two of them firing is enough to win most matches. The question is not whether they can score quickly, but whether they can do it together often enough.

What’s next

The title defence starts at home, with the new captain leading the champions out against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on Sunday 22 November, in the evening in Dubai.

• Match 3 — vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders: Sunday 22 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 6 — vs Desert Vipers: Wednesday 25 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 8 — vs Sharjah Warriorz: Friday 27 November 2026, evening session, Sharjah.

Qualifier 1 is on Tuesday 16 December, the Eliminator on Wednesday 17 December, Qualifier 2 on Friday 18 December in Sharjah, and the final on Sunday 20 December in Dubai.

Every fixture, date and session is on the ILT20 Schedule page. SialTV will carry every result as it happens, with the points table updated after every match day.