Faf du Plessis named RCB captain for IPL 2022

Faf du Plessis has been named captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2022 starting later this month, the franchise revealed on Saturday.

Published on: Mar 12, 2022, 16:23:13 IST

By Aditya Bhattacharya, Bengaluru

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Faf du Plessis has been named captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2022 starting March 26, the franchise revealed on Saturday during the RCB Unbox event in Bengaluru. Du Plessis, who until last year represented Chennai Super Kings, was picked up by RCB for ₹7 crore at the IPL mega auction last month. The appointment puts to rest speculations that Virat Kohli, who stepped down as RCB's captain at the end of last season, will return to lead.

Du Plessis leaves behind Australian Glenn Maxwell and India’s Dinesh Karthik in the race, both of whom were strong candidates to lead the side. While Maxwell and Karthik are experienced enough, it was probably du Plessis’ experience of leading South Africa that gave him the nod ahead of the other two.

ALSO READ: RCB IPL 2022 Schedule: Royal Challengers Bangalore complete fixtures, match timings, venues, dates- All you need to know

“I played a lot of IPL cricket and I understand the tournament. I would rely heavily on the domestic experience and also the international players. We have got one of the great leaders in the game, Virat.

It's a huge honour and privilege for me to come across to a big franchise. It was beautiful watching all the memories. Really inspired me and got me excited for the season ahead. Thank you very much guys for putting trust in me. I am very excited and I hope we can put up some great performances for the fans,” said Faf.

He led South Africa in 115 internationals out of which the country emerged victorious 81 times. South Africa won 25 of the 40 T20Is played under du Plessis. In February of 2020, du Plessis gave up South Africa’s captaincy across formats but RCB saw plenty of value in him to give him charge of a revamped side.

Du Plessis took over South Africa's Test captaincy in 2016 which extended to all formats a year later. Lately, he has been overlooked by South Africa, even missing out on a place in the squad for the T20 World Cup last year. This was after du Plessis had burned up the charts in IPL 2021, finishing with 633 runs, just two behind the Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad. In fact, du Plessis had been in fine nick for CSK the last couple of seasons, scoring over 1000 runs in IPL 2020 and 2021 combined.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aditya Bhattacharya
Aditya Bhattacharya is the Sports Editor at Hindustan Times Digital, with close to 15 years of experience in sports journalism. Over the course of his career, he has worked with leading media organisations including Cricbuzz, The Times of India, Network18 and Zee. Primarily a cricket writer, Aditya has covered several marquee events, including the 2016 ICC World T20, the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and the 2023 World Cup in India. His reporting portfolio also includes international cricket across England, South Africa and New Zealand, along with forays into tennis, including coverage of the Australian Open. He has interviewed several prominent athletes across sports. Aditya began his career with a brief stint at CricketNext before getting his first major break at Cricbuzz, where he was part of the Times Network’s startup venture GoCricket, which later merged with Cricbuzz. After nearly 18 months there, he moved to The Times of India, covering his first World Cup assignment and reporting first-hand on landmark moments such as Virat Kohli’s iconic innings against Australia in Mohali. During his three-year tenure, he played a key role in both reporting and desk operations and was recognised as TOI Employee of the Quarter in 2016. He later joined Zee, where he covered the 2019 World Cup across five venues in England—an assignment he considers a career highlight. At Hindustan Times, Aditya’s leadership came to the fore as he was promoted to lead the sports team within 18 months. Under his stewardship, the section has delivered extensive coverage of global sporting events, including the IPL, Olympics, Cricket World Cups, FIFA World Cups, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. In 2024, he was named HT DigiStar of the Year. Aditya continues to adapt to the evolving digital publishing landscape, with a sharp focus on search and audience engagement. Outside work, he occasionally plays the guitar and remains an avid gamer.Read More

Get the Cricket Live Score! including IPL Matches and track ICC rankings shifts, Cricket Schedule, and Players Stats along with detailed score profiles of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill.