Saw very closely how MS Dhoni’s brain works: New RCB skipper Faf du Plessis

master

March 25, 2022

KEY STORY

Over the years in his career, MS Dhoni hasn’t only had an impact on Indian players but also several overseas stars who got to spend time with him during their Indian Premier League (IPL) stints. One such player is Faf du Plessis, who had won multiple IPL titles at Chennai Super Kings under Dhoni’s captaincy.
Du Plessis, who is now gearing up for his maiden captaincy stint in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore, admitted that he was fortunate to spent many years playing under the leadership of Dhoni, from whom he got to learn many things.
“Moving out to Chennai, I was lucky enough to play under MS Dhoni for an extremely long time. I got to see very closely how his brain works, how things operate under him, which was very fortunate for me,” Du Plessis said in an interview that was posted on IPL’s official website.
Du Plessis first joined CSK in 2012 and played for the franchise till 2015. After Chennai were suspended from the league in 2016 and 2017, Du Plessis joined Rising Pune Supergiant. Upon CSK’s return in 2018, the South African rejoined them and was a part of the squad till the IPL 2021 season.
Over these many years with the Super Kings, Du Plessis didn’t just get to observe Dhoni closely as a captain but also got the opportunity to learn from head coach Stephen Fleming who is among the top coaches in the sport at the moment.
“Also Stephen Fleming, who has been a really good leader in the international cricket and is also a well-established coach now. I also played under AB de Villiers who was captain of South Africa for a while. Every captain has their own strengths, and the icing was for me to look at these leaders and see their strengths and also find my own ways to be different,” he said.
At Bengaluru, Du Plessis is replacing a very potent skipper in Virat Kohli. While Kohli’s captaincy resume speaks for itself, he had not succeeded in winning the IPL at RCB. Hence, after the IPL 2021 season, Kohli stepped down, paving way for Du Plessis to take up the job.