After being appointed RCB’s captain for the upcoming IPL season, Faf du Plessis on Saturday (March 12) said that the team will need Virat Kohli’s energy at every step of its campaign even though the latter has relinquished leadership role.
Kohli stepped down as skipper after the IPL 2021 season, after leading the side for 9 years. The baton has now been passed to Du Plessis, who was associated with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) since 2012 and won two titles with the 'Yellow Brigade'.
"Even with him (Kohli) not being the captain, that energy he brings to himself and to the team is hugely important for us. We'll try and use that as best as we can," Du Plessis said in a virtual media interaction, on the sidelines of the RCB captain-launch event.
The former South Africa skipper also stated that Kohli has transformed Indian cricket with his captaincy.
"His (Kohli) performance as a cricket player has been probably one of the greatest, so huge respect for what he's done not only with the bat in his hand but also in captaincy perspective, he's changed Indian cricket," Du Plessis said.
"I've seen that happen over time. Playing against India for so long, I could see that shift, his leadership footprint has brought in the Indian team -- a competitive, fit Indian team that was fighting fire with fire as no Indian team ever did before.
Besides Kohli and Du Plessis, the Bangalore-based franchise has seasoned campaigners like Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik, who have captaincy expertise in franchise cricket.
"He's got an extremely strong leadership style and that rubs off obviously on players underneath him and that is something that we would still need.
"So for me, it's easy to pull that knowledge, but the tricky part is to always have clarity. I think that's where teams really do well... So I suppose that's where my responsibility comes in," the new captain said.
Proteas batting legend AB de Villiers took retirement from professional cricket last year, which meant that the RCB fans will no longer be able to see him play in the IPL.
"It's huge shoes to fill in. There is no cricketer in the world that will try to fill in AB's shoes. Those shoes are too big. I've got big feet but they're never going to match AB's feat. I wouldn't even try, he's an absolute great of the game," Du Plessis said of his former South African teammate.
"He mentioned throughout his career that it'd be nice if I could join him yet RCB so the timing is obviously not great now that he has decided to retire and also retired three years ago in International cricket.
"Unfortunately, we won't be playing together. But it's nice that one friend replaces another. And there's something nice to that story," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
