Johannesburg: Senior batsman Faf du Plessis has announced he is stepping down as South Africa captain from all formats effective immediately, citing "the need to facilitate the emergence of next generation of leaders". The 35-year-old said that his decision to step back from captaincy was one of the toughest decisions to make. Quinton de Kock has already replaced him as their full-time ODI captain. The Proteas will take on Australia in a three-match T20I series starting Friday.

"When I took over the leadership, I did so with the commitment to lead, perform and most importantly, to serve. As the team heads into a new direction with new leaders and a young crop of players, I feel it will be in the best interests of South African cricket to relinquish the captaincy in all formats,"said du Plessis in a statement.

"This was one of the toughest decisions to make, but I remain fully committed to supporting Quinton, Mark and my teammates as we continue to rebuild and re-align as a group," he said.


Faf du Plessis captained South Africa in a total of 112 international matches across all three formats since December 2012 when he led South Africa for the very first time against New Zealand in a T20I series.

"In a perfect world I would have loved to lead the team in the Tests for the rest of the season as well as the T20 World Cup, but sometimes the most important attribute of a leader is to be selfless."

"I am healthy, fit, energised and motivated and certainly see myself playing an important role in the squad for as long as I continue putting in winning performances for the team," he added.