Ashwell Prince says Faf du Plessis’ measured knock for the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday illustrated his evolution as a batsman.

The RCB captain scored 44 off 40 balls on a difficult pitch for batting to take his tally for this year’s IPL to 466 runs in nine matches at an average of 58.25 and a strike rate of 159.58.

Bangalore then bowled out the Lucknow Super Giants for 108 to win by 18 runs.

The Super Giants once again opted not to select Proteas opener Quinton de Kock, who has yet to get a game in this year’s IPL.

ALSO: De Kock will have to wait for IPL game time

In a Twitter thread, Prince – a Proteas batsman from 2002 to 2011 – listed six things he felt Du Plessis did better than any batsman in the match.

1. Assess the conditions ACCURATELY ASAP, summing up that certain strokes that usually comes easy are tough.

2. Assess what a COMPETITIVE score will be (not a winning score, cause nobody knows).

3. ADAPTABILITY: Owners, coaches want to know that their main men, don’t only “get in the mood” when the stars are all aligned, ie: flat pitch, fast outfield, high altitude, weak bowling, etc.

4. Leadership: @faf1307 knows that someone has to be prepared to, as unglamorous as it is, to scrap his way to 44 (40) at 110% to give his team “a chance”.

5. Deeper UNDERSTANDING of the game: At times during a game, you’ve got to be able to assess the situation and say, “hell, in my current form, if it’s this hard for me, it’s going to be hard for them”.

6: MATURITY: The ability to have that “inner conversation” and tell your EGO to “sit down, I’m busy with big boy things”. As the game evolves, @faf1307 has evolved.

“I’m a massive @QuinnyDeKock69 fan and I can’t help but wonder whether owners, coaches expect a bit more of the above from #Quinny,” added Prince. “We all know that he can light up any stadium, but when you’re the main man, people want, expect more.”