How a batsman manages to outsmart the field placements underlines his quality. In this territory, cricket is as much a game of chess as timing or power or placement… or an amalgam of all three ingredients.
Here, a batsman's mental vision of the field's dimensions and his awareness of the different men patrolling the various positions is of critical importance. And he constantly needs to observe the switches in the field settings.
The Chennai Super Kings versus Pune Warriors match in Chennai was on the boil. The home side and du Plessis were against a canny captain in Sourav Ganguly.
Aware of du Plessis's strength on the off-side, Ganguly sought to narrow down the angles. He had a man at cover, then a fielder at wide long off (almost at the extra-cover fence) and stationed one at sweeper cover.
Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma was matching wits with du Plessis. With the off-side field in his favourite scoring area packed, Ganguly was throwing a bait at du Plessis to hit against spin with large areas of the leg side vacant.
The fleet-footed du Plessis had other ideas. He used his feet to convert the length and drilled the ball with precision — through the eye of the needle as it were. The placement was perfect.
He did not just beat the man at cover but also gave little chance for the fielders at wide long-off or sweeper cover to cut off the ball as it crossed the ropes. The stroke oozed quality.
Not surprisingly, du Plessis is the most successful batsman for Chennai Super Kings so far this season with 302 runs in seven matches at 43.14 at a strike rate of 138.53. And he has done so with batsmanship rooted in sound fundamentals, against both pace and spin.
Opening the batting has given this 27-year-old South African the opportunity to express himself. He has, both, launched into the bowling or sliced it open by using the depth of the crease.
The fine-leg might have been up but du Plessis, after going down the track, still possessed the time, the presence of mind and the skill to direct the ball wide of the fielder.
A handy leg-spinner and an outstanding fielder as well, du Plessis promises more for CSK this season.
