South African cricketer Faf du Plessis has been named as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captain for IPL 2022. the franchise announced on Saturday (March 12).
“I can’t be happier for the team and Faf. He is a good friend and we get along very well. Looking forward to a good season,” said Kohli, the outgoing captain.
Du Plessis will become the seventh to captain the Royal Challengers, with Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Kohli and Shane Watson having led the team previously. Among them, Kohli has captained the side in most matches – 140 matches with 64 wins, 69 losses, three ties and four no results, with a win percentage of 48.16.
While this will be Du Plessis’s first captaincy assignment in the IPL, he has led several teams in the T20 format, including South Africa and World XI in international cricket. Comilla Victorians, Paarl Rocks, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Kings are the other teams that Du Plessis has led in T20s.
He has been the T20 captain in 79 matches previously, with 43 wins, 34 losses, one tie and one no result, with a win percentage of 55.76.
Speaking on a Tv show, Faf said, “I just got a message from Virat welcoming me into the squad which was very nice. I and Virat have got a good relationship over the years.”
We can’t wait to see this duo together on the field in the red and gold! 🤩🤜🏻🤛🏻#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #ClassOf2022 pic.twitter.com/Igl8LUSLVM
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 15, 2022
“Especially in the last year or two, we started speaking a bit more often and that’s going to be a great opportunity for me to play alongside one of the world’s greatest cricketers we’ve seen. I am looking forward to that,” he added.
Du Plessis was picked up by Chennai Super Kings in the 2011 IPL auction but he made his IPL debut only in the following season. He played for the Super Kings from 2012 to 2015 and during the team’s two-year period of suspension, he represented Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 and 2017.
He was back with the Super Kings from 2018 to 2021, a period in which they won two titles. He also received a bid from the Super Kings in the mega auction earlier this year, but the Royal Challengers, who were involved in a fierce bidding battle with Delhi Capitals for Du Plessis, eventually roped him in for INR 7 Crore.
Du Plessis has played 100 matches (93 innings) so far in the IPL, scoring 2935 runs at an average of 34.94 and a strike rate of 131.08, with 22 half-centuries. In the last four seasons of the IPL, he has scored 1640 runs in 47 innings, with 633 of those runs coming in 2021.
RCB begin their IPL 2022 campaign on March 27 against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.