The Royal Challengers Bangalore announced on Monday that Faf du Plessis has been selected captain for the IPL 2022 season, which begins later this month.
Faf du Plessis has been selected captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the IPL 2022 season, which begins on March 26, according to the club, which announced the news on Saturday at the RCB Unbox event in Bengaluru. Du Plessis, who played for Chennai Super Kings till last year, was acquired by RCB for $7 million in the IPL super auction last month. Virat Kohli, who stood down as RCB captain at the conclusion of last season, was widely expected to return.
Du Plessis beats out Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and India’s Dinesh Karthik, who were also strong contenders for the captaincy. While Maxwell and Karthik have sufficient experience, it is likely that du Plessis’ experience as South Africa’s president gave him the edge over the other two.
He guided South Africa to a total of 115 international victories, with the country winning 81 of them. Under du Plessis, South Africa won 25 of the 40 T20Is played. In February 2020, du Plessis stepped down as South Africa’s captain across all forms, but RCB felt enough value in him to entrust him with a new squad.
In 2016, Du Plessis became South Africa’s Test captain, a role he expanded to include all forms a year later. He has been ignored by South Africa recently, even missing out on a spot in the T20 World Cup team last year. This came when du Plessis blazed up the IPL 2021 rankings, finishing second with 633 runs, just two behind Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad. In reality, du Plessis had been in excellent form with CSK in the previous two seasons, hitting more than 1000 runs in the IPL 2020 and 2021 combined.