World T20 one of our nightmares: Faf du Plessis

Knocked out of the World Twenty20 at the league stage, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis on Monday admitted that the tournament has been a nightmare for his side as they struggled throughout to find form.

‘It feels like one of our nightmares where you are struggling to put your pads on, this tournament,’ du Plessis said at the post-match presentation after his side beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their inconsequential last match of the Super 10 Group 1.

He attributed his side’s failure to make it to the semifinals to the first match loss to England in which South Africa failed to defend 229.

‘I’m very baffled. 230 in that first game, yes we were to blame, we didn’t bowl well. It’s almost like, what do we need to do? We should have won it. If you play that 230 game ten times in a row, you would’ve lost one,’ said du Plessis at the disappointment of failing to make it to the semifinals.

‘Afghanistan was a dangerous team and we beat them. We did not do well against West Indies either, small mistakes,’ he added.

Asked if he would be playing in the next World T20, du Plessis said, ‘I picked up a few grey hairs. I don’t know in four years what I would be. It’s everything for us (winning a world cup) I’ll do all I can to play another.’

Stand-in Sri Lanka Captain Dinesh Chandimal said that batting let his side down in the tournament.

‘You can’t tell every time you are rebuilding, someone has to put their hands up. It was a really good start. But no one rebuilt it. Batting let us down in this tournament,’ Chandimal said.

‘It was tough always, when you are playing against South Africa, they are a great side. We could not execute our plans in the middle. It depends on performance,’ he added.