Kohli excited to play under Faf du Plessis: Happy to pass on the baton

Virat Kohli believes his partnership with Royal Challengers Bangalore‘s new captain Faf du Plessis is going to be exciting. The South African was appointed as the side’s skipper for IPL 2022 on Saturday. 

Kohli, who stepped down as RCB’s captain after leading the franchise for a decade, in a video posted by the team on social media said that he is excited to play under Faf du Plessis. 

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“Happy to pass on the baton to Faf! Excited to partner with him and play under him,” Kohli said in a video posted on Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Twitter handle. 

Du Plessis was roped in by the RCB for a whopping Rs 7 crore in the 2022 mega auction. He was handed over the cap by team’s chairman Prathmesh Mishra and director cricket operations Mike Hesson in a virtual event.

“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity. I have played a lot of IPL and understand the dynamics of the game. It’s no small thing to trust an overseas player,” Du Plessis, who gave up South African captaincy across all formats in 2020, said.

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“I would rely heavily on the amazing experience of domestic players. We have got great leader of the game in Virat Kohli,” he added. 

Following the announcement, RCB released Kohli’s message for Du Plessis. 

“I couldn’t be happier to pass on the baton to a good friend, someone I’ve known over the years. We’ve been in touch for many years now. He’s one of the few guys I’ve gotten to know a little bit more apart from the cricket. My partnership with Faf is going to be exciting. The squad we’ve put together is amazing. Our team looks balanced and strong, and I can’t wait to get started,” the former skipper said. 

Virat Kohli captained the RCB for 140 games, winning 64 of them. Under his leadership, the side finished as runners-up in 2016.