{"id":291156,"date":"2025-11-30T09:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291156\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T09:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T09:22:13","slug":"faf-du-plessis-opts-out-of-ipl-auction-to-play-in-psl-in-2026-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291156\/","title":{"rendered":"Faf du Plessis opts out of IPL auction to play in PSL in 2026 instead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">South Africa batter Faf du Plessis has opted not to enter the Indian Premier League auction for 2026 so he can &#8220;take on a new challenge&#8221; in the Pakistan Super League. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The 41-year-old has played in the past 12 IPLs, and only missed the 2013 edition since making his debut in the tournament in 2012.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The right-hander has scored 4,773 runs, at an average of 35.09, for four sides &#8211; Chennai Super Kings (2012, 2014-2015 and 2018-2021), Rising Pune Supergiant (2016-2017), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2022-2024) and Delhi Capitals (2025).<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He has won the tournament twice with Chennai Super Kings and was man of the match for his 59-ball 86 in the 2021 final. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRpCtvOEncu\/\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement on Instagram, external<\/a>, Du Plessis, who has played six games in the PSL previously, said: &#8220;It&#8217;s a big decision, and one that comes with a lot of gratitude when I look back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This league [the IPL] has been a massive part of my journey. India has given me friendships, lessons and memories that have shaped me as a cricketer and as a person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This year I&#8217;ve chosen to take on a new challenge and will be playing in the upcoming PSL season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s an exciting step for me &#8211; a chance to experience something new, to grow as a player and to embrace a league filled with incredible talent and energy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;A new country. A new environment. A new challenge. I&#8217;m looking forward to the Pakistan hospitality. See you all soon.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The dates for both the 2026 IPL and PSL are yet to be announced, but the two tournaments are expected to overlap. <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa batter Faf du Plessis has opted not to enter the Indian Premier League auction for 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-291156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}