Faf du Plessis named RCB captain for IPL 2022
Faf du Plessis has been named captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2022 starting later this month, the franchise revealed on Saturday.
Faf du Plessis has been named captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2022 starting March 26, the franchise revealed on Saturday during the RCB Unbox event in Bengaluru. Du Plessis, who until last year represented Chennai Super Kings, was picked up by RCB for ₹7 crore at the IPL mega auction last month. The appointment puts to rest speculations that Virat Kohli, who stepped down as RCB's captain at the end of last season, will return to lead.
Du Plessis leaves behind Australian Glenn Maxwell and India’s Dinesh Karthik in the race, both of whom were strong candidates to lead the side. While Maxwell and Karthik are experienced enough, it was probably du Plessis’ experience of leading South Africa that gave him the nod ahead of the other two.
“I played a lot of IPL cricket and I understand the tournament. I would rely heavily on the domestic experience and also the international players. We have got one of the great leaders in the game, Virat.
It's a huge honour and privilege for me to come across to a big franchise. It was beautiful watching all the memories. Really inspired me and got me excited for the season ahead. Thank you very much guys for putting trust in me. I am very excited and I hope we can put up some great performances for the fans,” said Faf.
He led South Africa in 115 internationals out of which the country emerged victorious 81 times. South Africa won 25 of the 40 T20Is played under du Plessis. In February of 2020, du Plessis gave up South Africa’s captaincy across formats but RCB saw plenty of value in him to give him charge of a revamped side.
Du Plessis took over South Africa's Test captaincy in 2016 which extended to all formats a year later. Lately, he has been overlooked by South Africa, even missing out on a place in the squad for the T20 World Cup last year. This was after du Plessis had burned up the charts in IPL 2021, finishing with 633 runs, just two behind the Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad. In fact, du Plessis had been in fine nick for CSK the last couple of seasons, scoring over 1000 runs in IPL 2020 and 2021 combined.
