Royal Challengers Bangalore announce Faf du Plessis as the new captain of the franchise ahead of the 2022 Indian Premier League season.

The newly announced captain Faf du Plessis has 2935 runs in the IPL during his time with Chennai Super Kings and Pune Supergiant. It must be noted that du Plessis was Player of the Match for his 86-run knock against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2021 final.

With Virat Kohli, the former skipper, stepping down from the role in a bid to manage his workload and South Africa’s A B de Villiers retiring from all forms of cricket, the franchise was among the few who entered the auction in need of a captain.

While several franchises such as Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings chose to simply announce their new captains on social media, the Bengaluru-based franchise engaged fans in a promotional campaign ahead of their ‘RCB Unbox’ event in the city, to reveal the new jersey and announce the new captain.

Former skipper Virat Kohli has scored 6283 runs in 208 matches since his debut for the team in 2008 and led the side since 2013 with three play-off finishes and one final appearance but no trophy to show.

“This will be my last IPL as captain of RCB. I’ll continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. I thank all the RCB fans for believing in me and supporting me,” Kohli had said in a statement issued by RCB in October, last year.

The former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis was bought at the auction for Rs 7 Crore.

More to follow...