With just few weeks left for the 2022 Indian Premier League to kickstart, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is yet to announce their captain of the season. However, if sources are to be believed, senior batter Faf Du Plessis is the front-runner to lead the side.
Du Plessis, who was bought by RCB for Rs 7 crores in IPL 2022 auction, was an integral part of CSK since he joined them in 2012 and has won two IPL titles with the ‘Yellow Brigade’. The South African batter amassed 2932 runs from 93 innings at the strike rate of 132.
Faf has also led South Africa in 112 matches across all formats until 2020 and given his captaincy experience, the batter can be handed the leadership role by the RCB management.
Notably, Virat Kohli had announced his decision to quit RCB captaincy at the end of IPL 2021. And since then there have been discussions among cricket fanatics about who could fit in Kohli’s shoes.
After the mega auction, Faf, Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik’s names started doing the rounds. However, Maxwell’s availability in the season, because of personal commitments, is in doubt. So the franchise is likely to go for either Faf or Karthik.
A job well done on Day of the #IPLMegaAuction.
Here’s our squad for the 2022 season, guys! A great mix of youth and experience. #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/6cbrDrDKvR
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 13, 2022
Karthik has played for RCB in 2015 and has led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the past. Whereas, Faf has a tremendous experience of leading South Africa and his past batting record with Chennai Super Kings is also phenomenal.
“We will announce that name real soon. Discussions are on as we have good options with us,” an RCB source close to the development said.
Talking about the other nine teams, they have already appointed their skippers. Interestingly, out of nine captains (named so far), eight are Indians.
IPL 2022 captains:
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) – MS Dhoni
Delhi Capitals (DC) – Rishabh Pant
Gujarat Titans (GT) – Hardik Pandya
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) – Shreyas Iyer
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) – KL Rahul
Mumbai Indians (MI) – Rohit Sharma
Punjab Kings (PBKS) – Mayank Agarwal
Rajasthan Royals (RR) – Sanju Samson
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) – Kane Williamson
Royal Challengers Bangalore – Not yet announced