Cricket South Africa (CSA) has stirred a massive controversy after a contentious post on its social media accounts. After Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won their 4th Indian Premier League (IPL) title on Friday, CSA congratulated Lungi Ngidi for the win, a pacer with CSK.
However, Cricket South Africa conspicuously left out Imran Tahir and Faf Du Plessis from the post, who both play for CSK, drawing sharp criticism from former cricketers and fans alike. Ngidi played only 3 matches in the IPL this season, picking 5 wickets at an economy rate of over 10.
Faf Du Plessis, on the other hand, scored over 600 runs in the tournament, missing out on the Orange Cap, awarded to the highest run getter, by a whisker to teammate and and opening partner Ruturaj Gaikwad.
On Instagram, former South African pacer Dale Steyn called the post disgusting for not mentioning Tahir and Du Plessis. The latter expressed his shock as well.
On Twitter, Dale Steyn said that Cricket South Africa has opened “a can of worms for themselves” with the post on Instagram and Twitter. The post has apparently been deleted from both the platforms.
CSA opening a can of worms for themselves with their Twitter and Instagram.
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) October 16, 2021
Whoever’s running those accounts needs a talking too.
Steyn had also said, “Delete the post and add all the men involved, save yourself the embarrassment and ridicule.”
CSA now blocked the comments section.
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) October 16, 2021
Here’s some advice.
Do the right thing.
Delete the post and add all the men involved, save yourself the embarrassment and ridicule.
Cricket South Africa has received a lot of stick from fans on social media for the post.
Something is messed up with CSA pic.twitter.com/Vn2XJGuYXN
— sudhanshu' (@whoshud) October 16, 2021
CSA really has the nerve pic.twitter.com/b7UPvZFdNc
— 👁 (@halfageminii) October 16, 2021
Terrible from Cricket South Africa – Imran Tahir and Faf Du Plessis are modern day greats for them and they have treated them so badly in last few years. pic.twitter.com/xHU0s343nr
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 16, 2021
Faf Du Plessis will not be playing for South Africa in the T20 World Cup that is set to begin in a few days time. On his absence from the T20 squad, selection convener Victor Mptisang had said, “Faf has got a wonderful record but we wanted to be consistent in the selection and this is the group of players we have gone with. When you’re working with free agents, you have to come together that works for both the team and the free agents, they’re obviously attracted to various leagues and then the squad has its own requirements on how they build towards a World Cup.”