South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis in an interview recently revealed that soon after the ball-tampering incident struck the Newlands Test, he got in touch with his then-counterpart Steve Smith with a strong message that would have helped Smith handle the whole situation.
South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis in an interview recently revealed that soon after the ball-tampering incident struck the Newlands Test, he got in touch with his then-counterpart Steve Smith with a strong message that would have helped Smith handle the whole situation.
"When it happened (in Cape Town), the first thing that I felt I needed to do was to send Steve a message," du Plessis, who had faced the same character-questioning circumstances in Australia a couple of years back, said.
"Just to tell him 'listen, I have been through something similar like this, it is very tough and your character is going to be tested but stay strong - I know that mentally, you are a very strong guy'.
"Because he's proven that in his career, 'and at the end of this you'll look back in a few years and see that it's made you into a stronger and better cricketer in your mind'. Obviously, skill-wise he doesn't need anything more, he's already a machine with the bat – 'but 'just getting through this will make you a lot mentally tougher'," du Plessis added.
The Australian trio of Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on the big screen executing the shameful act, were then slapped with bans from international and state cricket. While Smith and Warner were handed a year's ban each, the junior player Bancroft was given a nine-month ban.
"And I'm 100 percent sure that he's now sitting at home, and he's extremely motivated for his comeback, and he can't wait for that," the South African skipper said.
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