Faf du Plessis was unveiled as the new captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the upcoming IPL 2022. RCB announced this news at a grand event in Bangalore on Saturday. Du Plessis takes over the captaincy duties from Virat Kohli, who relinquished his captaincy post last year ending a 9-year tenure at the helm.
While this is the first time du Plessis is given the full-time captaincy in the IPL, he’s a proven leader having successfully led South Africa, and teams – Comilla Victorians, Paarl Rocks, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Kings – in other franchise leagues.
During the press conference on Saturday in Bangalore, Faf was queried about his thoughts on replacing the retired AB de Villiers in the RCB line-up. Faf was though clear that he isn’t trying at all to fill the massive shoes of Ab, and termed it as “poetic” that he comes in for his good friend in the RCB franchise.
“AB’s huge shoes to fill in; there’s no cricketer in the world trying to fill AB’s shoes, too big. And as I said, I won’t even try. He’s an absolute great of the game,” Faf said.
“Myself and AB always talked about, he mentioned throughout his career that it’d be nice if I could join him here at RCB. The timing is obviously not great, now that he’s retired and also retired three years ago from international cricket. Unfortunately, we won’t be playing together. [But] It’s nice that it’s a bit of poetic that one friend replaced another one and that’s something nice to that story.”
AB de Villiers, who had bid adieu to international cricket in 2018, retired from all franchise leagues as well last year. However, he went without an IPL title.
De Villiers then sent a heartfelt message on the appointment of Faf du Plessis as RCB’s new skipper. He said that he was sure about Faf being named as the captain the moment RCB bought him in the mega-auction for 7 crore.
In a recorded video message, de Villiers said: “A new season brings new challenges and also new opportunities. This season there are also few exciting changes we can all look forward to. The biggest of them all – our new captain. And who better than my good friend Faf du Plessis.”
“This announcement comes as no surprise to me after RCB picked up Faf at the auction. He’s an amazing leader and a perfect man for the job; he has a fantastic tactical mind and Faf will have great support around him. I have no doubt that he will do a wonderful job for the RCBfamily. All the very best my good friend and all the very best team RCB. Ee Sala Cup Namde,” de Villiers concluded.
“He’s an amazing leader and the perfect man for the job” – @ABdeVilliers17 sends a heartfelt message to our new captain @faf1307. ?
#PlayBold #RCBUnbox #UnboxTheBold #IPL2022 #RCBCaptain pic.twitter.com/UB8XRx54eB
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 12, 2022
Glenn Maxwell, who was retained, and Dinesh Karthik, who was purchased for 5.5 crore, were also in contention, but the franchise decided to put their trust in du Plessis, who was the second-highest run-scorer in IPL 2021 helping CSK to the title.
RCB are yet to win a single title and have thrice reached the final but faltered at the final hurdle. They will begin their IPL 2022 campaign on March 27 against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil stadium.
