Faf du Plessis ruled out of the remainder of CPL 2023 due to an elbow injury

St. Lucia Kings captain Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing 2023 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) due to a tennis elbow injury. He is set to undergo surgery soon upon reaching South Africa and in his absence, Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza will lead the team.

Du Plessis confirmed through the franchise's Instagram channel that he is effectively sidelined for three months. He struggled with the injury during the team's win over the Trinbago Knight Riders on Saturday. Despite the tennis elbow limiting his power-hitting ability, he labored his way to a match-winning 57 runs off 30 deliveries.

Revealing that he has already had eight cortisone injections to manage the elbow, du Plessis said during the post-match presentation:

"[During] the last while I did feel a little bit of loss of power - all because of the pain, which sometimes pulls the power back. So you just have to play a game where you feel like maybe hitting at 80% power, and [on] fields like this [which are] a little bit smaller, you can just time the ball. But yeah, really happy with the innings today."

Tennis elbow is a menacing injury for any athlete, with even the great Sachin Tendulkar struggling to cope with the injury from 2004 to 2006, resulting in one of the leanest patches of his career.

Faf du Plessis also spoke about the imminent leadership change with his departure from the tournament.

Entrusting the experienced Sikandar Raza to lead the side well, he said:

"Raza is someone who has played a lot of T20 and T10 cricket. So very much an experienced brain there; so it's great to have those guys on the field and ask questions."

Obviously, it's a change, and probably you could say a big change because it's someone stepping into the shoes for the first time with the St Lucia Kings. But luckily, we've got someone like Sammy there who will make sure for the first one or two games there will be some direction from his side. And then trust the guy on the field with the resources that he has at his disposal," the South African added.

The former Proteas skipper scored 112 runs in three innings for his side in the 2023 CPL. He had played a crucial role in the team's third-placed finish in the previous edition, scoring 332 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 168.53. The opening batter ended up as the fourth-leading run-scorer of the season.

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Faf du Plessis endured a poor MLC campaign prior to his arrival in the Caribbean

Faf du Plessis was recently seen leading the Texas Super Kings (TSK) in the inaugural edition of the Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States of America (USA).

While he guided TSK to a second-place finish in the league stage, the team crashed out of the competition following successive defeats in the playoffs. He had a forgettable tournament with the bat, scoring only 46 runs in seven matches at an average of 6.57.

He could be back in time for the Big Bash League (BBL) season from December 7 onwards. The right-handed batter represented Perth Scorchers in the previous edition and could be retained by the franchise at the upcoming draft on September 3.

Du Plessis also leads the Joburg Super Kings in the SA20, the second edition of which is scheduled to begin on January 10, 2024.