The Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday named Faf du Plessis their captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The captaincy position had fallen vacant after Virat Kohli stepped down from the role following the end of last season. His decision to step down as skipper of the franchise came days after he quit as captain of India’s T20I captain ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup.
“This will be my last IPL as captain of RCB. I’ll continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. I thank all the RCB fans for believing in me and supporting me,” the 32-year-old batter had said at that time.
Kohli was then removed as captain of India’s ODI team and later stepped down from the Test captaincy as well.
Du Plessis, a former South Africa skipper, has a wealth of experience, having led the Proteas in all three formats since 2017 following AB De Villiers’ stint as captain.
Du Plessis will become the seventh captain in franchise history, following in the footsteps of Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Kohli, and Shane Watson. Kohli captained the side for 140 matches, the most of any player, and boasts a record of 64 wins, 69 losses, three ties, and four no results.
Du Plessis was bought by the Chennai Super Kings in 2011 IPL, making his debut the following season. He played for the MS Dhoni-led side from 2012 to 2015 before moving to the Rising Pune Supergiants for 2016 and 2017 during the Super Kings’ two-year suspension.
He returned to the Super Kings in 2018, winning two titles since then. During this year’s mega auction, the Super Kings went in for him but lost out to the Royal Challengers following a bidding war that also included the Delhi Capitals. The Bengaluru franchise roped in the South African batter for Rs 7 crore.
Du Plessis has played 100 IPL matches, scoring 2,935 runs at a 34.94 average. He boasts a strike rate of 131.08.
