'Du Plessis hasn't retired, still in South Africa's plans ahead of T20 WC,' says CSA convenor of selectors

Faf du Plessis, who was dropped from South Africa's One-Day International (ODI) side on Tuesday, has not retired and is very much still in team's limited-overs plans, said Cricket South Africa's Acting selection convenor Linda Zondi.

South Africa and England are currently playing a four-match Test series. England leads 2-1 with the final match yet to begin. Following that, the two countries will face off in a three-match ODI series.

Zondi's comments came right after South Africa announced their 15-man ODI squad, which did not have du Plessis and the captaincy was handed to Quinton de Kock. The announcement was followed with various speculations about the Test skipper's limited-overs future.

"He hasn't retired. He is still in our plans, but it is important in terms of succession plans that we look at other options," Zondi said in a recent interview.

Zondi further explained that the primary reason behind dropping du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada is to manage the workload among the players keeping in mind this year's T20 World Cup.

"It is the same for KG (Rabada). It is about managing workloads and this is an important year for us in T20 cricket with the World Cup coming up towards the end of the year (in Australia in September). It's just about giving opportunities to other guys.

Anrich was going to be one of our key bowlers at the World Cup before he got injured and he has been bowling a lot in the Test series, so there is no way that we are throwing him or anyone else away," Zondi added.

When asked about du Plessis' future and if he has any plans to retire, Zondi said," At the moment he hasn't said anything to me."