Faf attributes Test captaincy for making him a 'better player'

South Africa's Faf du Plessis, who played his career-best knock of 185 during his side's 40-run victory in the New Land's ODI against Sri Lanka, has credited his promotion to the Test captaincy for his imperious recent form with the bat.

In the last 10 matches, du Plessis has scored 640 runs at 71.11, including three hundreds and two fifties, more than other period.

"Being a captain makes me play better. That's possibly been a reason for [my good form] ," ESPNcricinfo quoted du Plessis as saying after recording the second-highest score by a South African in ODI history on Tuesday.

"The confidence and the momentum of that definitely helps. It just makes you raise your own bar of performance, you want to be a better player. My challenge to myself was to be a good player and now it's to become a great player. So it's just about lifting the bar and making a mind shift," he added.

The Proteas will now aim for a clean sweep when they face Sri Lanka in the last ODI on Thursday at the SuperSport Park to go at the top of the ICC ODI Team Rankings.

"Five-nil is important now to get to No. 1. For a while we have targeted to get back at the top in all formats, and we are getting there very quickly. Five-nil would be a great achievement, no matter who you play against," the right-handed batsman said.