‘I’m not going to be MS Dhoni as a captain’ – RCB skipper Faf du Plessis ahead of IPL 2023

Faf du Plessis took over the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fromVirat Kohli ahead of the IPL 2022. The former South Africa skipper has displayed exceptional leadership qualities in his first season as RCB captain. He also guided the team to the IPL playoffs.  

du Plessis is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and is also known as the most successful captain in all formats of the game. The Proteas star opened up on his idea of captaining the side and revealed what he has learned from the former and current IPL captains.  

“I think what was really good for me to go through was, even with all of that, the conviction that I am not going to be Graeme Smith as a captain, I’m not going to be Stephen Fleming as a captain, I’m not going to be MS Dhoni as a captain. In order for me to be true to who I am as a person, I need to be me. Because if you’re not being you, then people will see through it, maybe not when you’re doing well but definitely when you are under pressure, or underperforming, the real you will reveal itself,” he said while speaking on RCB Podcast Season 2.

du Plessis also took time to thank Chennai Super Kings, who gave him an opportunity when he was a youngster. The 38-year-old cricketer said that CSK coach Stephen Fleming is one of the greatest leaders he has ever met. He also opened up about his experience working with MS Dhoni, calling him "impressive" as a captain. 

“I got an opportunity to go to Chennai as a young-ish phase in my career. Stephen Fleming is one of the great leaders within the game, obviously, for New Zealand cricket also. The different aspect was him being a man manager, a guy who just works on relationships. And I go, Wow, that’s impressive.

"During my first season at CSK, I was sitting next to him (Fleming) and just asked him questions about captaincy and leadership, just to learn as much as I can. And then you put MS on top of that, and you go, Wow, this guy’s tactically odd to read the game like this. And you go, Okay, he is impressive as a captain,” he said.

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store