IPL 2023: We wanted somebody who had captained at an international level before – Mike Hesson reveals why RCB picked Faf du Plessis as captain

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson has shed light on the franchise’s decision to pick Faf du Plessis as a leader. RCB roped in the services of Faf du Plessis for INR 7 crores in IPL 2022 mega auction.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli left RCB captaincy after IPL 2021, and Faf du Plessis was handed over the leadership baton for IPL 2022. The South African also led the Bengaluru-based franchise to the playoff stages in the previous season. However, their journey ended when they lost to Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier.

Faf du Plessis also comes with the experience of leading South Africa at the top level and Hesson revealed they wanted an experienced leader to captain their team.

Mike Hesson said on RCB Podcast, “I guess it’s really difficult coming into a group when the previous captain is still there. So we needed somebody that could come in, would have respect within the group instantly because if he comes in a lot of people can be intimidated by the ex-captain being near and potentially aren’t confident enough to make your own decisions.”

“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.”

In the ongoing IPL, RCB has won two out of the five matches in the ongoing season. Faf du Plessis has led from the front as he is currently the leading run-getter with 259 runs in five matches of the tournament.

“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,” said Hesson.

RCB will next take on Punjab Kings on Thursday at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali.