Veteran South African cricketer Faf du Plessis was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for INR 7 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) mega-auction. He was earlier part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise before they released him.
The official Twitter account of RCB posted a video of their preparation to get Du Plessis in the mega-auction. They were expecting CSK to bid for the Proteas cricketer as they prefer to get back their players.
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But RCB Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson had planned it very well in the mock auction to outbid CSK for Du Plessis. "Every important decision needs preparation, and the think tank planned Faf du Plessis’s auction pick well ahead of the #IPLAuction, considering the experience and the leadership value he brings to the group. Watch to find out how it all unfolded," wrote RCB while posting the video.
In the clip Hesson can be heard saying that CSK will try to buy Du Plessis and Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga on the first day of the auction.
“With the options, we have in our current squad and the uncertainty surrounding those, and the options we have at the auction, where we think we can gain a real advantage is with Faf du Plessis who is highly experienced. He has captained South Africa for long, won the IPL many times and is a very consistent performer in terms of how he operates. He's a strong character and highly respected. These are a lot of attributes you want in a leader,” Hesson said.
“It's pretty clear that CSK will likely try and get him back, as they do with all their players. He's also in the marquee group; for us to have some structure going forward, we need to allocate some budget to get that. We would want to go through teams who might look at him. CSK will obviously make a bid, no one will expect us in terms of who we are likely to go for,” he added.
Virat Kohli had stepped down as RCB captain last season and now the franchise is looking for an ideal player for the role. They might appoint Du Plessis as their new captain considering his experience.
“We see his (Faf's) role along with Hasaranga as two most important overseas roles to get on the first day. There are a number of different permutations and combinations to get to this point and I'm sure there will continue to be some. But the primary role is to start and fine-tune how we have to go about achieving that. The priority on Day 1 is to get Hasaranga and Faf,” Hesson said in the video.
