Faf urges Aussies to be true to themselves

Faf du Plessis has detailed a marked change in the on-field behaviour of the Australians during the current white-ball tour when compared with the controversial Test series in South Africa earlier this year, while also warning his rivals of the perils of inauthenticity.

The South Africa captain did however, advise the silent treatment as perhaps the best approach in attempting to curb the impact of the world's number one batsman, Virat Kohli, across four Tests this summer. 

Since the events of Cape Town and the subsequent Cricket Australia culture review, Australia's players, led by Test captain Tim Paine, have regularly spoken about a toning down of the sledging and on-field aggression that many believed was beginning to characterise the side, or had even become synonymous with the team in previous eras. 

Du Plessis, who famously referred to the Australians as being "like a pack of wild dogs" in the field during the 2014 tour of South Africa, said he had reveled in the confrontational nature of his stoushes with a team against which he has scored seven international hundreds in all formats – more than twice as many as he has against any other country. 

"That's something that I think brings the best out in me – even the other day when we played the last one-dayer, I got hit on the finger – 'Starcy' (Mitchell Starc) bowled a good ball and I felt there was a bit of energy coming from the field," he said today in Brisbane ahead of Saturday night's one-off T20I on the Gold Coast. 

"Straight away I felt like that was my moment to almost wake me up, and after that I felt really good. So I think that's something that gets me going."

The 34-year-old said South Africa had avoided engaging Kohli in their three-Test series against India earlier this year, and while the ICC No.1 ranked Test batsman still finished atop the run-scorers list (286 runs at 47.66), the damage was contained somewhat as the Proteas won the series 2-1. 

"There are guys like that in international cricket (who enjoy the confrontation)," he said. "We feel like that when we play against someone like Virat Kohli. 

"He's a similar character (to du Plessis), he wants to get into the fight. 

"There's one or two guys in each team around the world that we as a team discuss before playing against them. We're like, 'better not say too much to him because you'll get him going'. 

"He's an amazing player. We gave him the silent treatment and he still scored runs in South Africa, but we felt like it was not huge runs – he scored the one hundred there in Centurion when the wicket was slow. 

"So every team will have what they think works – for us, that was silent treatment."

At the same time however, du Plessis cautioned the Australians about the danger of going against their natural inclinations, or traits that have brought them success in the not-too-distant past; specifically, that aggression and confrontational nature with which the team has been associated. 

"There's a definite difference (in Australia's on-field behaviour)," he said. "Playing the Australian team was probably the hardest team to play against because they were the fiercest. 

"Obviously they've always had a lot of pace, so with pace, the rest of the guys in the field can back it up. So that's always been there … over the years of watching Australians play, that's the way I've got used to seeing them. 

"So when you do play against them, as different as they were to the rest of the world, that's what you expected. 

"The series in South Africa was like that … especially that first Test in Durban, it was a feisty one. 

"Then comparing that to now, you can see they're obviously trying to minimise that a bit more, and let the cricket do the talking. 

"I think that's the way the game's moving anyway. These days, chirping's not as big a part of cricket. Obviously the stump mics, TVs, there's a lot of emphasis from the ICC that it needs to be a gentleman's game. 

"There's a lot of kids watching the game … so chirping, swearing, all that stuff has been really toned down, so I think it's a general thing that's happened in the game. 

"But if you compare the two series then yes, there's been a big difference in the way that they talk on the field.

"I think it's a transition (Australia are) going through at the moment, where they're trying to build up a new culture, however long that will take. 

"But I've always believed that you must never take away your uniqueness as a strength. 

"If your strength is to be in guys' faces, then you must use that. 

"Obviously there's laws now where you can't cross that line, but if you're a personality that requires that to get the best out of yourself and therefore perform the best for the team, then by all means do that within the boundaries that is allowed. 

"But don't become someone that you're not – it's not authentic. I believe when guys are not authentic, they're not the best cricketers they can be, and that's what we always speak about in our team."

Gillette T20s v South Africa and India

Gillette T20s v South Africa 

November 17: Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast

Gillette T20s v India

November 21: The Gabba

November 23: MCG

November 25: SCG

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

South Africa T20 squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.

India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.