Ending the speculations, Royal Challengers Bangalore named Faf du Plessis as their new captain for the forthcoming Indian Premier League 2022. The experienced South African batter has been handed the helm of affairs as he joins the RCB franchise for the very first time.
Losing the race of retention to prominent names in the Chennai Super Kings camp at the end of the 2021 Premier League campaign, Du Plessis entered the mega auction for IPL 2022 in Bangalore in February, where he was bought by RCB for INR 7 crores.
The Royal Challengers were expected to go after Shreyas Iyer as an Indian face to take over the reigns from Virat Kohli, who relinquished his post after the 2021 edition. But the franchise made passionate bids for Du Plessis and experienced wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik as their potential captaincy candidates alongside Aussie maverick Glenn Maxwell.
Karthik and Maxwell’s names were in the mix, but the RCB think-tank eventually arrived at Du Plessis’ name and finalised him as the new captain at an event in Bangalore.
“Coming in as an outsider, I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity. It’s no small thing to trust an outsider, an overseas player to do the job as a leader. My style in doing that is not going to be ‘my way’. I will rely heavily on amazing experience of our domestic and international players.”
“Having been a leader for a while, I’ve been on the journey for creating a culture, it’s close to my heart. First and foremost, my style will be a relational style. To connect with players and start to get to know everyone,”
du Plessis was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
In a pre-recorded video, Kohli said he couldn’t be “happier” to pass on the job to his longstanding friend and also expressed a sense of excitement as he looks set to join Du Plessis at the top of the order.
“I couldn’t be happier to pass on the baton to a good friend, someone I’ve known over the years. We’ve been in touch for many years now. He’s one of the few guys I’ve gotten to know a little bit more apart from the cricket.
My partnership with Faf is going to be exciting. The squad we’ve put together is amazing. Our team looks balanced and strong, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Du Plessis’ captaincy credentials are not in doubt, as he led the Proteas in all three formats of the game before quitting the national duties. The 37-year-old hasn’t led an IPL franchise before but the experience at the highest level shall hold him in good stead. At RCB, his ultimate aim will be to lead the franchise to their maiden IPL title, the elusive trophy that has evaded the three-time finalists for 14 seasons now.
The batter has been a four-time IPL winner himself with CSK, a franchise that did go after him at the auction before they lost the bidding war to RCB. Despite entering the twilight of his career, the right-hander remains in solid form.
Du Plessis was instrumental in CSK’s surge to their fourth IPL title last year, finishing only two runs short of wearing the ‘Orange Cup’. He formed an excellent pairing at the top with young Ruturaj Gaikwad, the tournament’s top run-scorer, and made 633 runs at an average of 45.21 with a strike-rate of 138.20 at his end.
The IPL 2022 kick-off on March 26, a day before RCB begin their campaign versus the Punjab Kings at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.
