IPL 2022: Royal Challengers Bangalore announces Faf du Plessis as new skipper

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 will see a new lad leading Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The official announcement regarding the same was made on Saturday. Faf du Plessis has been bestowed with the captaincy duties for the side from this season. He will be replacing Virat Kohli, who quit the role after IPL 2021, having led the side for eight seasons.

RCB owned du Plessis during the 2022 IPL Mega Auction for ₹7 crore. He was immediately tipped as one of the contenders to lead the side, being a senior-most player in the side and the tournament. Although there were reports that Kohli might return to lead the side in IPL 2022, the announcement of the South African being given the duties lays rest to such depictions.

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Among the other contenders in the race for RCB captaincy were Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik. Although the two are experienced enough in leadership, du Plessis led the race for having led the South African team for quite some time. He captained South Africa in 115 outings, winning on 81 occasions.

The Proteas won 25 of the 40 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) under du Plessis. Although he quit South African captaincy in 2020, his potential to lead the side was enough to convince the RCB management to hand him the duties. He has been in fine form in the format, as playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2021, he racked up 633 runs and finished as the tournament's second-highest run-scorer, just a couple behind his CSK teammate Ruturaj Gaikwad.