Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli’s former teammate in the Royal Challengers Bangalore dugout, has slammed the legend and picked another RCB player as the world’s greatest T20 opener. Despite his unmatched excellence in IPL as well as T20 international cricket, Kohli was not selected.
Former South African batsman Faf du Plessis recently opted out of the IPL by withdrawing his name from the mini-auction and instead opted to reschedule the PSL. However, he made it clear that he is not retiring from the IPL and may return in future endeavours.
Du Plessis played the majority of his IPL career for Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore, forming batting partnerships with Shane Watson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Virat Kohli. However, when it came to choosing the best T20 opener, he chose this one.
Faf du Plessis has ruled himself out of the race for best T20 opener of all time long ago
Faf was entrusted with the important responsibility of choosing from the entire set of T20 batsmen who have opened the innings for him. He started by leaving out his own countryman Aiden Markram and replacing him with Martin Guptill.
He continued with Guptill and then replaced himself. He maintained his position over players like Ruturaj Gaikwad and KL Rahul and only gave up the position when he was compared to Travis Head.
After some heavy indecisiveness, he soon replaced Travis Head with former Indian great Virender Sehwag, as both the batsmen are known for their explosive antics. However, Sehwag had the upper hand after doing so consistently over a long career.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli slip from No. 1 T20 opener position
It is never easy to choose one of the great Indian batsmen. Du Plessis was quick to replace former Indian great Virender Sehwag as the best T20 batsman with former Indian captain Rohit Sharma as the best T20 batsman.
He chose Rohit over Quinton de Kock, one of South Africa’s greatest batsmen in the shortest format of the game and then Jos Buttler eventually got the better of him. However, his biggest dilemma remained between Buttler and Kohli, where he chose the RCB legend.
However, Virat was also ruled out of the race as Faf du Plessis chose former CSK batting partner and veteran all-rounder Shane Watson. Watson was once known as one of the most aggressive white-ball strikers in world cricket.
Faf du Plessis picks Caribbean master as greatest T20 opener of all time
However, the Australian all-rounder faced his toughest battle against his fellow countryman and former Australian batting partner. Given the left-arm pocket dynamite’s heroics in T20 cricket, the great David Warner was chosen in place of Shane Watson.
However, the last card almost neutralizes the effect of all the selections made so far. Du Plessis didn’t hesitate even once and it seemed as if he was waiting to be named as the greatest T20 opener of all time. It is none other than the great Caribbean master, big-hitting Chris Gayle, who is often called the Universe Boss for his unmatched record in T20 cricket.
Whether you are a fan of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli or David Warner, one cannot deny that Chris Gayle is the most loved player as the greatest T20 opener.
According to Faf du Plessis, the best T20 opener of all time is ________ Watch till the end! pic.twitter.com/TPnMP1H4Co
– ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) 23 February 2026
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