Faf du Plessis lauded India batter Virat Kohli’s superlative performance in the recent ICC World Cup 2023. India had an outstanding tournament where they came into the final undefeated. But Australia got the better of them in the summit clash in Ahmedabad on November 19.
Kohli broke several records in the CWC 2023, as he scored 765 runs in 11 matches with 3 hundreds and 6 fifties to his name. He broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs in a single World Cup edition (673) and also went past his all-time ODI centuries record.
Kohli recorded a historic 50th ODI ton in the CWC semi-final against New Zealand, going past Tendulkar’s record of 49 tons and becoming the first batter in ODI history to hit a half-century of centuries.
“First of all, he (Kohli) had an incredible World Cup, didn’t he. I could almost predict that you could see the way that he was, the energy he had before the tournament, the hunger for a World Cup at home. Things like that always play a big part,” Du Plessis said during a conversation with Rupha Ramani on the Mic-Up segment of the First Sports show on Tuesday.
“The kind of player that you are, how hungry you are, Virat actually shows that (hunger), leads from the front. I am really chuffed for him for the World Cup he had,” Du Plessis added.
Du Plessis said that he and Kohli enjoy a good relationship and that the latter was an important part of the RCB setup. Du Plessis had joined RCB ahead of IPL 2022 and taken over as their skipper, from Virat Kohli.
“We’ve got a really good relationship. He is an important part of RCB and the think tank around. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes that goes around planning, talking and it’s not always using up Virat’s time for that because he is playing so much. Virat is an important part of discussions regarding RCB,” added the 39-year-old.
The Pretoria-born cricketer said that it was about the level of expectations at RCB, given that the fans have been desperate for the franchise to win an IPL title.
“And obviously, moving away from that to a franchise like RCB. I think there’s a level of expectation from RCB fans. They’re so desperate for something, obviously a trophy and I get that. That makes me hungry for it (the trophy) as well.
You want to go somewhere where no one’s gone before, so that has given me a sense of purpose to try and give the fans what they want. We know that the IPL is not an easy competition, but within the fans, there’s a real passion,” commented Du Plessis.
Du Plessis will lead RCB in the upcoming IPL 2024 season.
