'Dhoni's captaincy was complete opposite to what I thought': RCB captain Faf shares 'crazy' story of his CSK beginnings
Faf du Plessis was appointed as the new captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday announced the appointment of Faf du Plessis as their new captain ahead of the 2022 Indian Premier League. The franchise bought the former South African skipper in the IPL mega auction in February earlier this year; Faf comes to RCB after a long stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) during which he represented the franchise in 9 seasons from 2011-2021. He had played a key role with the bat in the side's title-winning season last year.
Faf played under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the CSK as well as the Rising Pune Supergiants – a now-defunct franchise that took part in the 2016 and 2017 seasons of the tournament following a two-year ban on Chennai. In addition, Faf also captained South Africa during his international playing days.
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“The crazy thing is, when I started over in Chennai, I had this idea of what captaincy looks like. And MS was the complete opposite of what I thought it would have looked like! Because my culture was South African, right? So I came to this environment and I was like, ‘this guy was completely different than I thought what it should be!’” Faf noted.
In an interview with RCB, Faf recalled his initial days at CSK after he spoke in detail about playing under Dhoni. He pointed out that it was a new culture for him – even in terms of captaincy – when he joined the Chennai Super Kings in 2011. The South African cricketer further added that he will bring his style of leadership and cannot “try to be Virat Kohli.”
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“What it taught me was that there were different styles, but it is important that you need to be (have) your own style. Because that's the thing that always comes through when the pressure is on. So, I can't try to be Virat Kohli because I'm not Virat Kohli. I can't try to be MS Dhoni. But there are things I've learned that helped me grow my leadership style and mature. So, I'm grateful for that journey,” said the new RCB skipper.
Faf's RCB will begin their IPL campaign in the 2022 edition on March 27 against Punjab Kings.
