The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday (March 12) appointed former South Africa national team skipper Faf du Plessis as their new captain for the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
Du Plessis, one of the consistent performers for MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings, was an obvious choice after Virat Kohli decided to call time on his leadership role for the franchise after a decade during which their trophy drought didn't end. He was bought for Rs 7 crore by RCB and is available for the whole season.
Meanwhile, Du Plessis, who played for CSK from 2011-21, opened up on how he felt playing under the leadership of Dhoni while pointing out that it was a new culture for him – even in terms of captaincy – when he joined the CSK.
Bold Diaries: Captain Faf Interview@faf1307 talks about the opportunity of captaining RCB, what he’s learnt from MS Dhoni and Graeme Smith, and the amazing fans of RCB, on Bold Diaries with Danish Sait.#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/2Zdw9sh1dO
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 13, 2022
"The crazy thing is, when I started over in Chennai, I had this idea of what captaincy looks like. And MS was the complete opposite of what I thought it would have looked like! Because my culture was South African, right? So I came to this environment and I was like, ‘this guy was completely different than I thought what it should be!" Faf said during an interview with RCB.
Du Plessis also said that he can’t “try to be Virat Kohli” and he will lead RCB with his own style of captaincy.
“What it taught me was that there were different styles, but it is important that you need to be (have) your own style. Because that's the thing that always comes through when the pressure is on. So, I can't try to be Virat Kohli because I'm not Virat Kohli. I can't try to be MS Dhoni. But there are things I've learned that helped me grow my leadership style and mature. So, I'm grateful for that journey,” said the new RCB skipper.
A four-time IPL winner, the 37-year-old Du Plessis has so far played 100 games, scoring 2935 runs at a strike-rate of 131-plus. He scored 633 runs for CSK in last year's IPL-winning campaign.
IPL 2022 Schedule Announced
The #TATAIPL2022 is here! Mark your calendars.
It’s time to #PLAYBOLD, 12th Man Army! #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #Mission2022 pic.twitter.com/VmMzYIOy20
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 6, 2022
Notably, the three-time runners-up RCB are yet to win a title as the Du Plessis-led side will now look to build on their back-to-back playoff appearances in 2020 and 2021.
Eyeing an elusive IPL title, RCB will open their campaign against Punjab Kings in Mumbai on March 27.
