New Delhi: The newly appointed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis said on Sunday that he and Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a similar captaincy style of captaincy as "both are very relaxed characters".
In an interview with RCB, du Plessis said: "I am very lucky that I have been around some fantastic leaders in my journey in cricket. I grew in with Graeme Smith, who is South Africa's best leader ever. Then the 10 years with MS and Stephen Fleming, two fantastic leaders. I do think that there is similarity in MS style and my style in terms that we both are very relaxed characters."
The South African Du Plessis was picked up by Chennai Super Kings(CSK) in the 2011 IPL auction but he played his debut game in the league in 2012. Since then he has been a vital part of Dhoni-led CSK. He represented Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 and 2017 when CSK faced a two-year suspension, and he came back to play for CSK from 2018 to 2021.
In 2022 mega auction, RCB acquired du Plessis' services for Rs 7 crore after winning a tough bidding war from CSK.
"MS (Dhoni) is a fantastic leader and has probably had the most success in terms of silverware than any other captain in the world. It's been a privilege to be a part of that journey." "The crazy thing for me really is when I started with Chennai, I had this idea of what captaincy and leadership look like. And MS was completely opposite to what I thought it would look like because of my culture in South Africa. I came into this environment like, this guy's completely different than I thought it should be. What it taught me was that there were different styles, but it was important that you need to be your own style," he said about Dhoni's influence on him.
"Because that's the thing that always comes through when the pressure is on. So, I can't try to be Virat Kohli because I'm not Virat Kohli. I can't try to be MS Dhoni. But there are things I have learned that helped me grow my leadership style. I am grateful for that journey," he added.
The Royals will begin their Indian Premier League(IPL) campaign against Punjab Kings on March 27. (UNI)