Royal Challengers Bangalore land Faf du Plessis for ₹7 crores at IPL 2022 Auction
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) took on Delhi Capitals in an intense bidding war at the IPL 2022 Auction for Faf du Plessis. RCB eventually outbid the Capitals to land the former South African skipper for ₹7 Cr.
Bangalore was keen to acquire the services of the Proteas opening skipper, who was a key component in the Chennai Super Kings (CKS) title run.
With this, RCB has replaced one Affies boy in AB de Villiers with his school pal, du Plessis, who is a certainty to open with Virat Kohli. It remains to be seen if he will be handed the captaincy considering his experience, but for now, Bangalore will feel that they got him for a steal.
Faf du Plessis: A worthwhile addition for RCB in the IPL 2022 Auction?
Matches: 100, Runs: 2935, Avg: 34.94, SR: 131.09, 100s: 0, 50s: 22
Faf du Plessis was one of the marquee players certain to rake in the moolah at the IPL 2022 Auction, and that he did. Much of it stems from the fact that he is a dependable and explosive opening batter that Bangalore were looking to replace young Devdutt Padikkal with.
The Proteas batter will be a great mentor-cum-leader character in the dressing room alongside the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Kohli.
He was incredible with the bat in CSK's winning title run, scoring 633 runs from 16 matches, including six fifties, the most in his IPL career so far.
His gun fielding is another outstanding trait and will be a boon for the side when they take the field in the Indian Premier League.
RCB head coach Mike Hesson was delighted with the buy and said:
"We're very happy, pretty much bang on budget. He's a proven IPL performer. Faf has done most of the work at the top of the order, we might not change that. Still plenty of work to do. We have a number of young players on our radar. I'm not going to give you too much. We have a few targets."
RCB Purse remaining in IPL 2022 Auction: INR 50 Cr.