‘Faf ticked all those boxes’ - Mike Hesson reveals reason behind appointing Faf du Plessis as RCB skipper

After Virat Kohli relinquished his position as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team, the franchise was desperate to sign an experienced campaigner, who can take control of the dressing room. Thus, they didn’t spend much time as after an intense battle with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the IPL auction 2022, Bangalore signed Faf du Plessis for INR 7 crore and named him as the next leader of the franchise.

Revealing the reason behind this decision, RCB's Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson, stated that the former South Africa cricketer ticked all the boxes as he has enormous experience and also has respect among Indian players.

“So we wanted somebody who had captained at an international level before ideally, somebody that had respect from amongst the Indian players and the international players. That was really important that it wasn’t just somebody that would take a year to be in. We felt that at RCB we needed someone to hit the ground running,” Hesson said while talking on the RCB podcast.

We felt that at RCB we needed someone to hit the ground running: Hesson

While discussing further the qualities RCB were looking for in a player which Faf possesses, Hesson emphasised that they wanted someone who has international experience and more importantly, has immense respect from both International and Indian players alike. 

“We wanted a player who we knew could plug and play from a performance point of view. So somebody that had a really good record in the IPL in recent years and Faf clearly had that. And also would work well with the coach and the coaching group because we wanted that inclusive style. Somebody that we had a lot of good senior players Virat, Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) DK (Dinesh Karthik) that we were looking to either bring in or retain. So we needed to use those skills rather than just be an authoritarian style captain. We want to someone who will actually come and work with that group. And Faf ticked all those boxes,” Hesson said.

Notably, under the able leadership of du Plessis, RCB qualified for the playoffs in IPL 2022 but unfortunately lost to Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2. This season, they have managed to win only two of their first five matches and are currently seventh on the IPL Points Table.