WATCH: Captain Faf du Plessis does the Rohit Sharma ‘walk’ after winning the CPL T20 title with St Lucia Kings
Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has had to wait for a long time to win a T20 franchise league trophy. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain’s arduous wait came to an end on Sunday night as he led Bollywood star Preity Zinta co-owned St Lucia Kings to a six-wicket win over defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors to clinch the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2024 title.
Du Plessis celebrated winning the title in style, emulating Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s now popular slow ‘walk’ with the CPL 2024 trophy as he joined the rest of his team. The South African star’s ‘Rohit Sharma walk’ went viral on social media.
WATCH Faf du Plessis emulate Rohit Sharma’s walk after winning the CPL 2024 title HERE…
A euphoric moment for the Saint Lucia Kings! #CPL24 #CPLFinals #SLKvGAW #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport pic.twitter.com/fQZSG3C4WV
— CPL T20 (@CPL) October 7, 2024
The South African had earlier this year also led RCB to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs, where they lost to Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminators. Earlier, a fine spell by Afghanistan and Gujarat Titans spinner Noor Ahmed and an explosive partnership between Roston Chase and Aaron Jones in the backhend of the run-chase helped Saint Lucia Kings (SLK) to claim their first-ever Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title.
SLK elected to bowl after winning the toss, and picked up quick wickets to dent the opposition’s top order. While every bowler picked up a wicket each, Noor Ahmad was once again the star of the proceedings, registering 3 wickets for just 19 runs in his 4 overs. GAW posted 138/8 in 20 overs. Dwaine Pretorius (25 in 12 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Shai Hope (22 in 24 balls, with four boundaries) were the top-scorers for Guyana as they struggled to get going throughout the innings.
In the run-chase, skipper Du Plessis (21 in 21 balls, with two fours and a six) and the in-form batter Johnson Charles (7), who collectively scored more than 850 runs in the tournament could not replicate their past heroics and got out early.
SLK were 51 for 4 at one point and looked in trouble before Chase with 39 runs off 22 deliveries, with two fours and two sixes and Jones with 48 runs from 31 balls, with two fours and four sixes, started their brilliant counter-attacking innings and brought the trophy home with 11 balls to spare.
Speaking after the win, SLK captain Du Plessis said, “We have been really consistent throughout the league stage and I believe the two best teams played in the final. We always believed in the depth of the squad and credit to Roston and Aaron for absorbing the pressure and stepping up in the final when needed. It takes a special team performance to come here to their home ground and beat them twice. I am extremely proud of the team for showing grit throughout the tournament and getting the job done. There was an excitement at the start of the competition in St Lucia about is this gonna be the season. First CPL trophy and it is a great achievement.”
(with ANI inputs)