'Faf du Plessis has looked a better leader than Virat Kohli' - Sanjay Manjrekar reflects on RCB's IPL 2022 campaign

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has opined that the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) performed well than the previous edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but they should have gone all the way.  He also said that skipper Faf du Plessis looked a better captain than Virat Kohli.

To note, RCB ended their campaign after losing to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi, Stadium Ahmedabad  on May 27 (Friday) as they managed to score just 157 runs in their 20 overs, which was chased down by the Royals from Rajasthan easily.

Some good things have happened for RCB: Sanjay Manjrekar

“RCB have had a slightly better season. Some good things have happened. Faf du Plessis has looked like a better leader than Virat Kohli. But more is expected of them. Having come this far, they should have won. They’ll know exactly what has gone wrong and what has prevented them from going on to win gold instead of bronze,” Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPNcricinfo.

“A lot of credit around the bowling unit has to go to Faf. That’s where we see the captaincy at its best. More often than not, he got it right. He started the season well with the bat but, like a lot of other players, he too had a split season. Still, he’s the right option to continue as captain according to me,” he added.

RCB, under the captaincy of du Plessis, fared better in the IPL 2022, finishing fourth in the points table after winning eight and losing six matches. They also won the Eliminator against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). However, they did not manage to reach the finals of the tournament.

It must be noted that former skipper Kohli did not have a good outing in IPL 2022. Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel were some prominent performers for the team and they will look to do better in the next season.