Cape Town - It may have seemed like a largely unimportant contest, but when the Proteas beat Australia in Saturday's shortened T20I against Australia on the Gold Coast it gave skipper Faf du Plessis a unique achievement.

The Proteas won the one-off match, which was shortened to 10 overs a side, by 21 runs to take the series 1-0.

That results made Du Plessis the first captain in international cricket to claim series victories in Australia in all three formats of the game.

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Historically considered near-untouchable at home, the Aussies have now lost to Du Plessis' Proteas in their last three home series.

The Proteas emerged as 2-1 winners in the ODI series on this tour, while they won a three-match series 2-1 the last time they were in Australia to play Test cricket back in the 2016/17 season.

To add to that, Du Plessis also skippered the Proteas to a 3-1 Test series win in South Africa this year while, at the end of 2016, he guided his side to a 5-0 ODI thrashing over the Aussies, also on home soil.

It makes for a superb record as skipper against a side that has had the better of the Proteas for most of the modern era.

Du Plessis has won home and away against the Aussies in Test and ODI series for a perfect 4-0 record, but he had lost back-to-back T20I series at home against them before Saturday's match.

Considered 'public enemy number one' in Australia after the infamous 'mintgate' scandal during the 2016/17 Test series, Du Plessis has always risen to the occasion against the Aussies.

He has scored 3 Test centuries at an average of 46.73 and 4 ODI centuries at 51.57 against Australia.

"I was part of the previous generations with (Graeme) Smith and (Jacques) Kallis and I remember like it was yesterday when they spoke about the pain and embarrassment of always losing in Australia," Du Plessis told media at Cape Town International Airport on Monday.

"Since that day it has been something that has motivated me and obviously being the villain over there ... I love playing there and it does bring the best out of me.

"When there is a fight on, that brings the best out in my character. I'm trying to find that same recipe against other sides."

Du Plessis' record as skipper against Australia:

2018/19 T20I series in Australia: 1-0 winners

2018/19 ODI series in Australia: 2-1 winners

2017/18 Test series in SA: 3-1 winners

2016/17 Test series in Australia: 2-1 winners

2016/17 ODI series in SA: 5-0 winners

2015/16 T20I series in SA: 2-1 losers

2013/14 T20I series in SA: 2-0 losers