Faf Du Plessis will be leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the upcoming IPL 2022 season, the 15th edition of the tournament. The franchise announced this news at a grand event in Bangalore on Saturday.
Fans had been kept waiting for this announcement since the mega-auction was concluded in February and they had been speculating on the man who could be appointed the new RCB skipper. While du Plessis is a proven and successful captain of South Africa, other in the fray included Melbourne Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell, and Tamil Nadu captain and former KKR captain Dinesh Karthik.
The torch has been passed but a new partnership is building. ????
Same #PlayBold attitude, same #ChallengerSpirit. ?
Drop a ? if you’re excited to see the VK and FDP partnership, 12th Man Army! #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/acv5W0aqob
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 13, 2022
RCB’s Director of Cricket Mike Hesson explained that they wanted to grow their leadership ship as the key reason for giving the command of the team to the 37-year-old Faf du Plessis.
“It was a little bit of both. We obviously had Maxwell and Virat to have huge captaincy experience that we retained. We felt within our leadership group we wanted to expand on that … So it was more about growing our leadership group and carrying on from that,” Hesson was quoted as saying by timesnownews.com.
Over the years in the IPL not many overseas captains have had success, with some of them even leaving the captaincy mid-season when their own form dip and the team’s results.
Hesson said they understood the risks of having an overseas player lead the side, but asserted that Faf du Plessis was a sure starter in their line-up, making him the “best candidate for the job”.
“When you look to decide who’s the most suitable candidate for the role, you don’t necessarily decide whether they’re an Indian player or an overseas player. Sure the seven Indians and there’s four overseas — we know the maths. We just want the best candidate for the job. And there’s no doubt in our mind that Faf is the guy for that,” Hesson added.
RCB are yet to win a single title; they have thrice reached the final but faltered at the final hurdle. RCB begin their IPL 2022 campaign on March 27, against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.
