"100 percent" - Aakash Chopra believes Faf du Plessis will be the new captain of RCB
Former India opener Aakash Chopra feels that Faf du Plessis will lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022. The South African was roped in by the franchise at a price of ₹7 crores on day one of the 2022 IPL mega auction.
Du Plessis triggered a bidding war between two South Indian franchises, Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 37-year-old's former team gave up after a point to pave the way for RCB to make the highest bid.
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Aakash Chopra notes that given how hard the RCB pursued Faf du Plessis, despite the other options available, suggests that he will be captain. Speaking on Star Sports, he said:
"100 percent. In my opinion, he is their captain. They will eventually announce it for sure. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone that hard for that long because there are other options available. If you are looking only at openers, there were options and there will be more in the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy. They did not go for someone like a Warner or Quinton de Kock."
Chopra continued:
"They knew, they had their eyes set on Faf that he is our captain. His record is phenomenal. What he brings is stability and consistency. No international cricket is working in his favour now."
RCB were in the hunt for a new captain at the mega auction as Virat Kohli stood down from the role after the 2021 IPL. Apart from the former CSK opener, another captaincy candidate could be Glenn Maxwell.
"We're very happy, pretty much bang on budget" - Mike Hesson on acquiring the services of Faf du Plessis
Du Plessis was one of the biggest names to watch out for on the marquee list of the IPL mega auction. He is likely to partner Virat Kohli at the top of the order in the upcoming season after the franchise failed to buy back Devdutt Padikkal.
RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson expressed his pleasure after winning the bid for the Proteas opener. He 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."
🏻“We’ve got a number of targets, but we’re right on track.”
-@CoachHesson
Trust the process. 💪🏻
#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPLMegaAuction #IPL2022 #IPLAuction
The South African entered the auction on the back of an impressive IPL campaign in 2021. He scored 633 runs in CSK's title-winning campaign and fell short by just two runs for the Orange Cap.