IPL 2022: RCB appoints South Africa's Faf Du Plessis as new captain

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday named former South African skipper Faf Du Plessis as its new captain for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Du Plessis will replace Virat Kohli who decided to give up the captaincy of the franchise after a decade during which the team's trophy drought didn't end. 

Du Plessis has been a consistent performer for Chennia Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL. RCB had bought him in the mega auction held last month for Rs 7 crore.

The Leader of the Pride is here!

Captain of RCB, @faf1307! 🔥#PlayBold #RCBCaptain #RCBUnbox #ForOur12thMan #UnboxTheBold pic.twitter.com/UfmrHBrZcb

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 12, 2022

Du Plessis was handed over the cap by team's chairman Prathmesh Mishra and director cricket operations Mike Hesson in a virtual event.

"I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity. I have played a lot of IPL and understand the dynamics of the game. It's no small thing to trust an overseas player," Du Plessis, who gave up South African captaincy across all formats in 2020, said.

"I would rely heavily on the amazing experience of domestic players. We have got great leader of the game in Virat Kohli," Du Plessis said.

The 37-year-old Du Plessis has so far played 100 games in IPL, scoring 2935 runs at a strike-rate of 131-plus. He scored 633 runs for CSK in last year's IPL-winning campaign.

In a video message, Kohli said he is happy to hand over the baton to his friend Du Plessis and is excited to play under him.

"Happy to pass on the baton to Faf! Excited to partner with him and play under him" - A message from @imVkohli for our new captain @faf1307. ??#PlayBold #RCBUnbox #UnboxTheBold #ForOur12thMan #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/lHMClDAZox

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) March 12, 2022

"...Faf is going to be the captain of RCB and I couldn't be happier to pass on the baton to a good friend, someone that I have known well over the years. We have been in touch for many years now and he is one of the few guys that I have gotten to know a little bit more apart from cricket, and we get along very well," Kohli said.

IPL 2022 will kickstart on March 26 with CSK taking on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the first match at the Wankhede stadium.

(With PTI inputs)

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