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Du Plessis backs double quarantine to salvage T20 WC


Published : 14 May 2020 06:23 PM | Updated : 04 Sep 2020 09:07 PM

Former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis feels a two-week isolation period before and after the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia can be a way out for the organisers to host the tournament, which is in doubt due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Du Plessis came up with the suggestion during a Facebook Live show with Tamim Iqbal on Wednesday. 

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played from late October till November but as things stand, there is a possibility that the tournament will get postponed, though ICC is yet to take a final call. 

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lots of countries and they are talking about December or January. But even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said. 

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation. But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," he said. 

Du Plessis, meanwhile, reminisced about the 2015 World Cup semifinal and said it took him years to recover from the heartbreak of losing the game. Du Plessis top-scored for his team with 82 off 107 but it went in vain as New Zealand chased a revised target of 298 in 43 with one ball left, on the back of Grant Elliot's unbeaten on 84 from 74 balls. 

"I've never been that much broken about a cricket match. You know you win and lose a lot of cricket games. Most of the time when you lose you are disappointed. But that game specifically I have never seen so many grown men absolutely broken. Like half the team was crying and you know South Africans, we act like we are hard guys. 

"The dressing room was absolutely broken. And we had to stay two days longer because we couldn't get a flight back to South Africa, so, for two days, whenever we saw our teammates, no one made eye contact or spoke. Afterward I played the IPL but I didn't feel that I'm playing cricket as I was so heartbroken inside," revealed du Plessis.