Faf du Plessis entered his name in the history books on Tuesday (January 6) by becoming the first cricketer from South Africa to score 12,000 runs in T20s. The 41-year-old right-handed batter from Pretoria,
who played 50 T20Is for the Proteas from September 2012 to December 2020, scored his 12,000th run in the 20-over format of the game during the SA20 2025-26 match played between Joburg Super Kings and MI Cape Town at Newlands in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Faf needed 42 runs to join the 12,000-run club in T20s, and he achieved the objective by scoring 44 runs from 21 balls in the rain-hit match that was reduced to 12 overs per side.
Most runs in T20s
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Chris Gayle | West Indies | 463 | 14,562 |
| Kieron Pollard | West Indies | 733 | 14,462 |
| Alex Hales | England | 528 | 14,449 |
| David Warner | Australia | 430 | 13,836 |
| Shoaib Malik | Pakistan | 557 | 13,571 |
| Jos Buttler | England | 478 | 13,554 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 414 | 13,543 |
| James Vince | England | 464 | 12,854 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 463 | 12,248 |
| Faf du Plessis | South Africa | 429 | 12,002 |
Before Faf, only nine batters managed to score more than 12,000 runs in T20s, but no one was from the rainbow nation.
Most runs in T20s by cricketers from South Africa
| PLAYER | MATCHES | INNINGS | RUNS | BEST SCORE |
| Faf du Plessis | 429 | 406 | 12,002 | 120* |
| Quinton de Kock | 422 | 408 | 11,813 | 140* |
| David Miller | 544 | 496 | 11,631 | 120* |
| Rilee Rossouw | 391 | 375 | 9705 | 121 |
| AB de Villiers | 340 | 320 | 9424 | 133* |
| Colin Ingram | 377 | 364 | 9010 | 127* |
| Reeza Hendricks | 293 | 274 | 8193 | 117 |
| Rassie van der Dussen | 250 | 238 | 7186 | 112* |
| JP Duminy | 264 | 248 | 6397 | 99* |
| Cameron Delport | 278 | 268 | 6290 | 129 |
Du Plessis, who has played in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings, Rising Pune Super Giants, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals, has a total of 12,002 runs to his name as of now in 406 innings of 429 T20 matches.
Faf du Plessis’s record in T20s
| TOURNAMENT | TEAMS | MATCHES | RUNS |
| International T20Is | South Africa | 50 | 1528 |
| SA20 | Joburg Super Kings | 38 | 990 |
| Major League Cricket | Texas Super Kings | 26 | 934 |
| Indian Premier League | CSK, RCB, DC, RPSG | 154 | 4773 |
| Caribbean Premier League | St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, St Lucia Kings | 45 | 1305 |
| Big Bash League | Perth Scorchers, Melbourne Renegades | 8 | 177 |
| Men’s 100 | Northern Superchargers | 8 | 134 |
| Bangladesh Premier League | Comilla Victorians | 11 | 295 |
| Pakistan Super League | Peshawar Zalmi, Quetta Gladiators | 6 | 107 |
| Mzansi Super League | Paarl Rocks | 19 | 537 |
| Vitality Blast | Kent, Lancashire | 21 | 447 |
| Champions League T20 | Chennai Super Kings | 8 | 211 |
Apart from representing the South Africa men’s cricket team and four franchises – CSK, RPSG, DC and RCB – in the IPL, Faf has also played for Joburg Super Kings in SA20, Texas Super Kings in Major League Cricket (MLC), St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Kings in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League (BBL), Northern Superchargers (now Sunrisers Leeds) in the Men’s Hundred 2022, Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Paarl Rocks in the Mzansi Super League and two teams – Kent and Lancashire – in the Vitality Blast.
