Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has made a bold statement about Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis, admitting that he isn’t a big fan of Faf as he hasn’t seen him do anything special yet. Faf du Plessis, who was previously at Chennai Super Kings, was signed by RCB in the IPL 2022 mega auction for Rs 7 crore, and named the captain after Virat Kohli stepped down from the role at the end of last season.

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Faf has won the IPL on multiple occasions with Chennai Super Kings, but the RCB captaincy is the first one for him as a skipper in the T20 league. Faf du Plessis said that his captaincy would be a “collaborative approach”, adding that Kohli is one of the most respected leaders of the game.

“Virat Kohli, just not for RCB but also for the international game, he is one of the most respected leaders of the game. Huge respect for what he has done with the bat in his hand but also from a captaincy perspective. He has changed Indian cricket and I have seen that over time, playing against India. I could see that leadership footprint in the Indian team. A competitive, fit team that was fighting fire with fire,” Faf du Plessis said.

“He has got an extremely strong leadership style. That is something that we will still need even if he is not being the captain, that energy that he brings for himself and also to the team is hugely important for us. So like that, we will try and use that as best as we can.”

“We have also DK (Dinesh Karthik), (Glenn) Maxwell and Harshal (Patel). There are so many players with experience. The important part is having clarity. That’s where my responsibility comes in,” du Plessis added.

However, Shoaib Akhtar does not see anything special in Faf du Plessis’ captaincy.

“Virat has quit leadership and Du Plessis has taken over, so he will lead in his own way. I am not a huge fan of Faf du Plessis because I don’t see anything (special) in his captaincy,” Akhtar said during an interview with Sportskeeda.

RCB have reached the final of the IPL three times, in 2009, in 2011, and in 2016, but have never lifted the trophy in the last 14 editions. Shoaib Akhtar also said that Faf du Plessis has a point to prove and it remains to be seen whether he can revive the franchise’s fortunes or not.

“Having said that, Faf has a point to prove. At times, he doesn’t look that sharp during his leadership. He has been given the responsibility of leading a huge franchise, so let’s see if he is able to revive their fortunes,” he added.