Faf du Plessis, the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), shared his thoughts on various aspects of the game and his experiences ahead of the IPL 2024 season. Speaking at the Star Nahi Far event in Bengaluru, hosted by Star Sports, Du Plessis highlighted the impact of players like Glenn Maxwell and MS Dhoni on his career.
Regarding Maxwell’s evolution as a player, Du Plessis praised his time at RCB, stating, “It’s very obvious for me that when I joined, there were quite a few strong personalities within the team, and I loved that. I love using people that have strong personalities and try to pull out their strengths to try and make my job a little easier. I don’t see it as me running the show, I feel like you pull people along the journey with you and you make sure you make them feel like they’re a part of it. Because then they want to contribute and you can get the best out of them. And certainly with Maxi, his time at RCB has been very fruitful for him in terms of IPL cricket.”
“I think we never really saw the full potential of Glenn Maxwell before the IPL, he always had these little small amazing innings, but it was very in between, like it would be an amazing 80 or 90 but then there would be a few low scores. But with RCB, I think he’s really found consistency. The last two years he’s been excellent and I can tell you, last year batting with him makes batting a lot easier for me because he’s so destructive, especially against spinners. He’s so powerful against spinners that you feel as the partner batting with him that you can go at the pace that you want to go.
Sometimes it’s at his pace and sometimes it’s not. But it takes so much pressure off you as the other batter. So he’s a great guy to bat with because he just goes and it’s good to see how well he’s done. Obviously, you can see in the last two years, his international cricket as well has also gone to another level. So hoping that that form can continue. I think he’s a crucial part of us having a really good season,” Du Plessis added.
RCB skipper talks about Dhoni’s presence
On the impact Dhoni has had on his career, Du Plessis shared, “He is the greatest ever captain, and I am very lucky that I have spent some time with him over the years. I think that’s probably the biggest thing in my career, shaped me from a leadership perspective, were my years at Chennai, just observing MS and Stephen Fleming. As a young leader, it was special to my growth. As a leader that I am today. So I’m very grateful for MS and everything about his leadership because it really shaped me.”
“When I see him, it’s like a big brother that you see, you want to beat him but you don’t really want to beat him because there’s so much respect for that. But obviously when you get on the field, it’s such a great match, the RCB-Chennai match, it goes back so much with the two icons, or two of the three icons of Indian cricket. I think the reason why Chennai is so loved and followed is MS Dhoni and the reason why RCB is so loved and passionate is because of Virat Kohli so it’s special for me to have had time with both of them so I’m very lucky,” Du Plessis revealed.
Faf talks about spinning options
About RCB’s bowling lineup for the season, the captain said, “In terms of bowling, I think we added some good strength, we’ve got Mayank Dagar who is a left-arm spinner who I think is a really good left-arm spinner. Obviously, if you compare the guys like Jaddu, they’ve done so well in the IPL and left-arm spinners in India are almost a must. And we haven’t had someone who has done that successfully.
So it’s hard losing those two guys (Hasaranga and Harshal Patel), they were two pillars of RCB, Hasaranga is a fantastic bowler, same with Harshal Patel. But maybe the venue in terms of Chinnaswamy is not as good for someone like Harshal who is amazing on the venues where you’ve got a little bigger boundaries and it’s a little bit slower where slow balls are effective. So just thinking of the kind of bowlers for the Chinnaswamy, there are different styles. So I think someone like a Yash Dayal is great.”
“We played last night and he was excellent. Also, someone like Akash Deep, you see how he has done in his career. And if you look at our overseas contingency, we’ve got our fast bowling department, we’ve got some unbelievable bowlers in Alzarri, Topley, and Ferguson. So very different, all fast, especially with the new rule with two bumpers, expect a lot of bouncers,” added Du Plessis.
Faf Du Plessis talks about batting with Kohli
Du Plessis also spoke about his batting experience with Virat Kohli and the energy he brings on the field, saying, “Batting is probably the other thing that we equally click. It’s unbelievable batting with him. He is one of the favourite guys I like to bat with. He brings out so much energy in me, like sometimes, I feel I am fist bumping my glove though his hand because he gets so passionate being out there in the middle.
It’s really infectious the way he gives that energy and I remember being in your position and how that really pisses me off by seeing that amount of energy, how this guy is always on and how does he manage it. So, it’s really infectious that on the same thing on the field while catching bowls, we both are very competitive make sure we get those good catches for the team. So he is really important to me in terms of field I think he leads so many things as far as a team is concerned but fielding is where he sets the tone and energy on the field.”
The RCB captain also shared insights about his personal equation with Kohli off the field.
“We spend a lot of time and jump together we both love food and we both really into our fashion that another things we spend a lot of time talking about. The way we dress the way we wear style of clothes, we will send each other pictures of outfits. He has been a terrible influence on me when it comes to watches but he got real passion for watches. But with this so many things obviously now its family, he got a daughter and I got two daughters, he got a second child now as well,” Du Plessis concluded.
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