IPL 2023: REVEALED! Mike Hesson explains why Faf du Plessis was made RCB captain after Virat Kohli

Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) occupy the seventh spot in IPL 2023 points table after their narrow loss over Chennai Super Kings (CSK), at home, on Monday evening (April 17). Bowling first, RCB was in for a leather hunt as they conceded 226/6 and while they were on course to chase down the target, they lost by eight runs after being restricted to 218 for 8.

RCB are expected to make a strong comeback in the season and will rely on their captain Faf du Plessis. Du Plessis has hit the ground running in IPL 2023 and is the current Orange Cap holder (259 runs) after his splendid 33-ball 62 versus CSK. Ever since the former South African captain joined the RCB camp, he has been one of their top performers and is expected to revamp his side's campaign in this year's IPL season.

In IPL 2022, Du Plessis represented the RCB franchise for the first time -- after they bought him for INR 70 million (INR 7 crore) -- and he didn't disappoint; leading the side to the playoffs and also ending as RCB's highest run-scorer. Recently, RCB's Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson explained why the veteran cricketer was chosen as the RCB captain ahead of IPL 2022.

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Speaking on the RCB podcast, Hesson said, "I guess it’s really difficult coming into a group when the previous captain (Virat Kohli)is still there. So we needed somebody that could come in, would have respect within the group instantly because if he comes in a lot of people can be intimidated by the ex-captain being near and potentially aren’t confident enough to make your own decisions."

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The New Zealander further opined, “So we wanted somebody who had captained at an international level before ideally, somebody that had respect from amongst the Indian players and the international players. That was really important that it wasn’t just somebody that would take a year to be in. We felt that at RCB we needed someone to hit the ground running."

He added, "We wanted a player who we knew could plug and play from a performance point of view. So somebody that had a really good record in the IPL in recent years and Faf clearly had that. And also would work well with the coach and the coaching group because we wanted that inclusive style. Somebody that we had a lot of good senior players Virat, Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) DK (Dinesh Karthik) that we were looking to either bring in or retain. So we needed to use those skills rather than just be an authoritarian-style captain. We want someone who will actually come and work with that group. And Faf ticked all those boxes."

Du Plessis succeeded Kohli as the RCB captain after the latter resigned from the top post following the end of IPL 2021.