Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has lauded Faf du Plessis for his leadership skills with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022. Shastri spoke about du Plessis’ influence as a skipper on RCB and praised his quality to tackle his teammates on the field.
Shastri also appreciated the way du Plessis handled intense and tight situations for RCB in the season and also said that the South African stalwart’s calmness on the field has been impressive. Notably, in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants, it was du Plessis’ decision to keep two overs of Harshal Patel’s quota for the death overs, which later turned around as a masterstroke for RCB as Patel restricted the LSG batters. “They kept their nerves towards their end I thought Faf’s calmness was brilliant. You might not talk about it as a captain. But in situations like this when it can get tight, I thought he was very good with the way he marshaled his troops. Just his influence on the game to back the calmness was good to see,” Shastri said.
Talking about Harshal’s bowling, du Plessis had said: “Harshal is the joker in the pack. A special card I can pick. He bowls the important overs. The second last one over from him changed the game for us.” To note, du Plessis had taken over the responsibility of captaincy after Kohli decided to quit dut. Kohli has also spoken up about his bond with Faf du Plessis and appreciated his competency. “Faf (du Plessis) and I have always gotten along really well even when he was captain of South Africa. Faf is a guy who is sure of himself and he has full authority on the field.”