(Cricket news) RCB has announced Faf du Plessis as their new captain after 10 years of Virat Kohli's captaincy. Before the mega auction, Bangalore retained Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. Kohli had already announced that he will not continue as captain to focus on leading India in ODIs and T20Is. The Delhi batter was then sacked from ODI captaincy before leaving the Test captaincy. There was speculation that Kohli may continue as captain as he isn't the Indian captain anymore.

In the mega auction, RCB secured the services of du Plessis for Rs. 7 crore. Du Plessis along with Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell was the candidate for captaincy. Even though he has never captained in the IPL, du Plessis led South Africa for a long time in all 3 formats. On a personal level he is likely to open the batting with Kohli which will be a very lethal partnership.  His leadership qualities cannot be questioned but it will be tricky considering he is new to the franchise. 

Apart from the retained Kohli, Maxwell and Siraj, RCB brought back Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed who were with them last season. AB de Villiers is reportedly set to be the mentor which is very good news for du Plessis. RCB have a very good squad which is capable of winning the trophy but a lot will depend on how du Plessis leads the side. Adjusting to the culture of a franchise is difficult as a player let alone as a captain.

Kohli, Maxwell, Karthik are likely to be a part of the leadership team that will help the South African. Siraj and Josh Hazelwood will make a very good partnership with the new ball and Harshal Patel is a death ball specialist. Youngsters like Mahipal Lamror, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai and Aneeshwar Gautam have a lot of potential and need to be developed.

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