Mike Hesson, the Director of Cricket Operations for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opened up on Faf du Plessis as the first choice for the captaincy role. In an RCB podcast, Hesson mentioned that team management had to make a tough call to bring in new captain when the former skipper was still featuring in the playing XI after stepping down form his role.
“I guess it’s really difficult coming into a group when the previous captain is still there. So we needed somebody that could come in, would have respect within the group instantly because if he comes in a lot of people can be intimidated by the ex-captain being near and potentially aren’t confident enough to make your own decisions,” Hesson said.
Former South African was made the RCB captain on March 12, 2022. Prathmesh Mishra and Hesson presented the RCB cap to Du Plessis in a virtual event.
"The 38-year-old was an integral part of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad and opened the batting for them. He was one of the top buys for RCB, who bought another 19 players at the mega IPL auction. So we wanted somebody who had captained at an international level before ideally, somebody that had respect from amongst the the Indian players and the international players. That was really important that it wasn’t just somebody that would take a year to be in. We felt that at RCB we needed someone to hit the ground running," the former Kiwi cricketer added.
Du Plessis was roped in by RCB for Rs 7 crore after a bidding war with Delhi Capitals (DC). He has featured in 118 IPL matches and has 3561 runs against his name in 112 innings. Du Plessis was one of the major factors in CSK's title winning 2022 edition and scored 633 runs.
Currently, in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the Proteas batter is going strong as he is the leading run getter of the cash-rich tournament. In five innings, he has scored 259 runs at an average of 64.75. He has three fifties to his name and is striking the ball at a strike rate of over 172.
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