Du Plessis to be `No. 1 couch fan' during Lord's Test

New Delhi [India], July 4 (ANI): Proteas Test skipper Faf du Plessis, who will not be part of the Lord's Test, has said he will South Africa's number one fan when they take on England from Thursday. "Extremely sad that I won't be able 2 front up 2 the challenge with the team. Be there soon. In the meantime I will be their nr1 couch fan (sic)," said du Plessis on Twitter. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Extremely sad that I won&#39;t be able 2 front up 2 the challenge with the team.Be there soon.In the meantime I will be their nr1 couch fan <a href="https://t.co/cycbvpPt9x">https://t.co/cycbvpPt9x</a></p>&mdash; Faf Du Plessis (@faf1307) <a href="https://twitter.com/faf1307/status/881871044642050048">July 3, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> The 32-year-old headed back home to attend the birth of his first child after their unsuccessful Champions Trophy, but will not be able to fly back to England in time for the opening game. Confirming the news, Proteas team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee revealed that du Plessis' wife Imari gave birth to their first child last week and that the difficult nature of the delivery has delayed his return. Du Plessis and his wife Imari, who got married in 2013 near Cape Town, were blessed with the baby girl last week. Left-handed batsman Dean Elgar will lead the side in du Plessis' absence, thus making him the 12th player since readmission to lead the Proteas. With the development, South Africa's 119-match streak to field him or AB de Villiers in their Playing XI will also come to an end. (ANI)