Published: Mar 13, 2022, 08:21 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 13, 2022, 08:21 AM (IST)
Bengaluru: Former CSK and South African batsman, Faf du Plessis has been appointed as the new skipper for Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 15th edition of the IPL in ‘RCB Unbox’ event here on Saturday. Even though the loyal fans wanted Virat Kohli to be renamed as skipper but the management had different ideas as RCB’s Director of Cricket Mike Hesson says that the South African star batter is the best candidate for the role.
“We just want the best candidate for the job. And there’s no doubt in our mind that Faf is the guy for that,” Hesson said.
“It was a little bit of both. We obviously had Maxwell and Virat to have huge captaincy experience that we retained. We felt within our leadership group we wanted to expand on that and also Harshal Patel as well. Who we wanted to buy back. So it was more about growing our leadership group and carrying on from that”, he told.
Hesson said that du Plessis was right up the top of their list in terms of captains as he his tactically sound as a leader.
“Obviously, Faf was right up the top of that list in terms of whom we were wanting to get. It was little bit of both. I know how well respected he is. I know tactically sound he is. We have the likes of Virat, Maxi (Maxwell), DK who is new to the group.”
He said that while deciding the role of the captain, it’s not necessary the player has to be an Indian or an overseas player.
“When you look to decide who’s the most suitable candidate for the role, you don’t necessarily decide whether they’re an Indian player or an overseas player. Sure the seven Indians and there’s four overseas — we know the maths”, he expressed.
The Director Cricket added that Faf is available to play every single game of the season and he is someone who would work with the leaders, get the best out of the youngsters and build relationships in the team.
“The reality is that Faf is good enough to play every single game anyway. So that’s not a question. Therefore you just look at who’s the guy you gonna work with the leaders in the group and get the best out of the younger guys, build relationships and help develop that RCB culture that we want”.
Royal Challengers Bangalore full squad: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood, Jason Behrendorff, Chama Milind, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, Sherfane Rutherford, Suyash Prabhudesai, Aneeshwar Gautam, David Willey, Luvnith Sisodia, Siddharth Kaul.
