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Faf remains the Orange Cap holder after 9 matches for RCB this IPL season, with 466 runs so far, and Player of the Match yesterday.

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Mike Hesson talks about why RCB selected Faf at the mega auction:

One of the biggest decisions of your tenure was identifying a replacement for Virat Kohli, when he stepped down as captain after the 2021 season. How did you settle on Faf du Plessis?

Virat's a very hard man to replace - and to be captain when your ex-captain is still there is incredibly difficult. You've got to be quite a strong character and really have the changing room [on your side]. You can't be a developing captain. We thought we had to have an established captain with a lot of those core experiences.

We'd spent a lot of time looking at all the gaps that we had in our squad. We looked at Indian players as well, and we went pretty hard for one or two. We settled relatively late on Faf, but we thought he ticked a lot of our boxes: he was highly experienced and still a high-quality player. We never knew at that time whether we'd be able to get a full three-year cycle out of somebody at that age [37, at the time of the mega auction], but the fact that he's incredibly fit gave us a lot more confidence.

He was almost a "plug and play". He knew Virat and [Glenn] Maxwell very well; they had a great relationship. He had a reputation for working equally well with overseas and domestic players, which is critical - to have an overseas player that comes in [as captain] and doesn't have that empathy towards how a team works could have been a disaster. The more we talked to people about Faf, the more he was our target.

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First centurion in the new SA T20 league.

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A great interview with Faf with Australian journalists on “The Grade Cricketer”.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore have unveiled Faf du Plessis, one of their big-ticket signings at the mega auction, as captain for IPL 2022, ending weeks of speculation over Virat Kohli's successor at the franchise. This is the first time du Plessis has been entrusted with leadership responsibilities by an IPL team.

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Swashbuckling South Africa batter Faf du Plessis was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 7 crore at the IPL 2022 auctions in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The explosive right-hander was the second-highest run-getter in IPL 2021, with 633 runs - just two behind Orange Cap holder and Chennai Super Kings teammate Ruturaj Gaikwad. Du Plessis was also the leading run-scorer for the men in yellow in IPL 2020.

The 37-year-old made his IPL debut in 2012 with Chennai Super Kings and has been with the side since. In 2016 and 2017, du Plessis turned out for Rising Pune Supergiant following CSK's two-year ban from the league.

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Faf was Man of the Match with 86 runs as CSK won their fourth IPL title in Dubai. Faf also finished second in the Orange Cap, for most runs in the season, and was only two runs behind team-mate Ruturaj Gaikwad. Photos from IPLT20.com. 

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A new interview with Faf and Imari posted by the Chennai Super Kings today.

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Faf’s first franchise T20 century, and the first century in this season’s CPL. 

Faf also posted a lovely comment on Instagram thanking everyone for their support after being unable to play for three and a half months due to severe concussion symptoms, and says he is still not completely healed. 

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Faf has been named the captain for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred but will miss the first three games due to the lingering effects of concussion suffered while playing in the Pakistan Super League.

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Faf du Plessis suffers from 'memory loss & concussion' post horrific collision in PSL game. After a nasty collision with a teammate during a PSL match, Faf du Plessis was taken to the hospital.

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Faf du Plessis was a surprise exclusion from the Proteas T20 squad for the tour of the West Indies, but the former captain could still find himself jetting over to the Caribbean, plus a new contractual arrangement for free agents is on the cards.

Apart from adding experience to a rebuilding batting line-up, Du Plessis was one of the best batsmen in the recently-suspended Indian Premier League, so why wasn’t he chosen? It turns out his omission was due to him not having a contract in place with Cricket South Africa, and, according to their current policy, that would mean he would not get paid for the tour but would earn match fees, which are just top-up amounts for those players who do have national deals.

It is a gap in CSA’s contracting system which director of cricket Graeme Smith is trying to fix in consultation with the South African Cricketers Association (the players’ union).

In the meantime, there is a chance that Du Plessis can reignite his T20 World Cup hopes by getting a late call-up to play in the West Indies.

For that to happen, the national selectors would have to agree to add him to the squad and Du Plessis would have to agree to special financial terms offered by CSA.

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Du Plessis's desire to be understood is a key thread to his narrative. A superstar athlete seemingly carved from the purest marble but laced with a vulnerability that could be read as insecurity. On the surface he presents as the quintessential South African alpha male, but he has rewritten the script on what it means to be a Proteas captain by bringing a softer touch to the role than his predecessors.

"I hope my story resonates with people," said du Plessis. "Hopefully I'm remembered as someone who was South African through and through. I gave as long as I could for my country. I put my own needs after the team's. People maybe don't know that to be the case, but I'm hoping that my actions speak that story."

"He loves to get his kit off, doesn't he?" says Brendon McCullum, the former New Zealand captain and for a while du Plessis' Chennai Super Kings team-mate. "Every second, whenever there was an opportunity to take his shirt off, he'd do it. And fair enough, if you look like that, why wouldn't you?"

"I've played with a lot of captains, but Faf is the best listener," says Imran Tahir, who, according to ESPNcricinfo, has represented 54 teams over a 25-year career. "I never felt like he told me what to do. I always felt included in every decision. I know a lot of players felt that way. I came to South Africa with the intention of revolutionising the way people thought about cricket. I wanted to show that South Africa could be more than just fast bowlers and great batsmen. I feel I did that. But I wouldn't have done that without Faf."

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Faf is now the Orange Cap holder in the IPL after six games (pictured above with opening partner Ruturaj Gaikwad). CSK are currently top of the table. 

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Faf scored 95 not out for CSK in a win over Kolkata Knight Riders and is now fourth on the leading run-scorers table early in the season.