"Nice to be on the same side for once" - Faf du Plessis shares thoughts on playing with Virat Kohli for RCB
New Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis has opened up on his thoughts of playing with Virat Kohli in the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). Sharing a post on Instagram, he wrote that he is happy to be playing on the same team as the Indian legend after competing against him for over a decade.
The veteran South African batter was chosen as RCB’s new captain ahead of the IPL 2022 season. He was purchased by the franchise for ₹7 crore at the mega auction in Bengaluru. RCB had to pick a new skipper after Kohli quit the post following the IPL 2021 edition.
Taking to his official Instagram handle on Saturday, Du Plessis shared a picture with his predecessor during practice and wrote:
“Been competing against each other for more than 10 years... Nice to be on the same side for once. Looking forward to spend some time in the middle with the great man, and really excited for the IPL season to start tomorrow.”
RCB will begin their IPL 2022 campaign by taking on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, March 27.
“He is a very able captain” - Virat Kohli on Faf du Plessis
While the Proteas batter has had a lot of nice things to say about Kohli, the admiration is both ways. Speaking to the RCB website, the Indian legend said about his successor:
"He is a very able captain, someone that I have a lot of respect for. Even as an opposition captain, (he is) someone that I always admired in the way he went about things, (and) in the way he went about, (he) got his team to rally around him. That is the most important thing for any skipper."
Kohli added that even though the South African cricketer is new to the RCB setup, he seems to have settled in nicely. The 33-year-old elaborated:
"Even here you can see he is at ease with everyone in the squad, the whole environment in general. And people have a sense of respect for him where if he is making plans or talking about stuff, people are saying 'hold on, let's really get into it, listen to it, we got to make a plan around his vision'."
37-year-old Du Plessis was part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad last year. He was the second-leading run-getter in the edition with 633 runs and the Player of the Final for his 59-ball 86.