Faf du Plessis, the Delhi Capitals vice-captain, has had a stop-start season in the ongoing season of the IPL because of a groin injury and after a scratchy return in the previous game against his former team, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the veteran showed signs of some good form scoring a 45-ball 62. Du Plessis slowed down a bit after a quick fifty and couldn't take the Capitals over the line against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), however, runs under the belt would keep him and his team in good stead in the upcoming games.
Following his 62-run knock, Du Plessis surpassed Brad Hodge to go past 1100 runs in T20 cricket after the age of 40. Du Plessis now found himself in the top five with 1,128 runs to his name after the age of 40 in T20 cricket after the likes of Shoaib Malik (2201), Chris Gayle (1541), Mohammad Hafeez (1509) and Qatar's Muhammad Tanweer (1181). After turning 40 last July, du Plessis, a serial globetrotter, has played in the MLC, in the CPL and even won the title as a captain, in the SA20 and now in the IPL.
In IPL, this is du Plessis' first season playing at the age of more than 40 and in just five innings in the current season for the Capitals, he has gone past Sachin Tendulkar on the list led by MS Dhoni. Du Plessis has 165 runs to his name in this year's IPL, one more than what Tendulkar scored in the IPL after going past that age barrier.
Most runs in IPL after turning 40
714 runs (52 innings) - MS Dhoni (CSK)
481 runs (17 innings) - Chris Gayle (PBKS)
471 runs (17 innings) - Rahul Dravid (RR)
466 runs (20 innings) - Adam Gilchrist (KXIP)
165 runs (5 innings) - Faf du Plessis (DC)
164 runs (8 innings) - Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
For the Capitals, their batting is just struggling a bit with 3-4 players chipping in. However, the likes of Karun Nair, KL Rahul and Abishek Porel have been too inconsistent, especially in big run-chases and du Plessis and captain Axar Patel were left too much to do. At 136/3 in the 14th over, it seemed like the Capitals were on their way to chase down 205 against KKR but those two overs where Narine dismissed all three of Axar, du Plessis and Tristan Stubbs, broke the back of DC's chase and the stand-in skipper helped the visitors stay alive in the tournament.
