IPL 2023: 'Not going to be MS Dhoni or Stephen Fleming as a captain' - Faf du Plessis on RCB leadership role
IPL 2023: Faf du Plessis is the new RCB skipper since the last season. Having played in CSK, many feel he can become RCB's MS Dhoni as the captain. However, the South African is trying to be his own.
FollowRoyal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has seen three full-time captains to date but has failed to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in the 15 seasons so far. As Virat Kohli stepped down from the role after IPL 2021, Faf du Plessis has taken over since IPL 2022 and will continue with the part in IPL 2023.
The former South African skipper previously played for former four-time IPL champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) under MS Dhoni's leadership. At the same time, he was also CSK's stand-in skipper on some occasions. Therefore, there was a feeling among fans that he could become RCB's Dhoni as the leader.
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However, speaking recently during an RCB podcast, du Plessis clarified that he was trying to be his own rather than trying to imitate Dhoni. "I think what was good for me to go through [during his career] was the conviction that I am not going to be Graeme Smith as a captain, I'm not going to be Stephen Fleming as a captain, I'm not going to be MS Dhoni as a captain," he supposed.
"To be true to myself, I need to be me. Because if you're not you, then people will see through it, maybe not when you're doing well but definitely when you are under pressure, or under-performing, the real you will reveal itself," added the South African, who looked to implement the captaincy learnings from now-CSK head coach Fleming.
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"I always had this leadership perspective of learning from great leaders. It [captaincy] was always something that I was fascinated about. Graeme Smith was the captain when I initially joined the South African team. I was like, Wow, this guy's got an amazing presence when he speaks -- like this big, blinding roar at you, and he just dominated the room while speaking. So, I was like, that's a leader, right?" du Plessis wondered.
"I got an opportunity to go to Chennai [Super Kings] as a young-ish phase in my career. Stephen Fleming is one of the great leaders in the game of New Zealand cricket. The different aspect was him being a man manager who works on relationships. And, I go, 'Wow, that's impressive'," he continued.
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"During my first season at CSK, I sat next to him [Fleming] and just asked him questions about captaincy and leadership to learn as much as possible. And then, you put MS on top of that, and you go, 'Wow, this guy's tactically odd to read the game like this'. And, you go, 'Okay, he is impressive as a captain'," concluded de Plessis.
