GT vs RCB: "Virat Kohli texted me after IPL auction..whole India wants to see him captain.."- Faf du Plessis' bombshell revelation

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's captain Faf du Plessis has revealed the text message that Virat Kohli sent to him after the franchise bought him in the IPL 2022 Mega auction. 

Faf du Plessis had represented the Chennai Super Kings in most of his IPL career, having been bought by the franchise during the 2012 auction for a price of 60 Lakhs. du Plessis then went on to represent the Super Kings for the next 3 seasons until the 2015 season before the South-Indian side got banned for two years. 

Faf du Plessis' journey in IPL since 2012 

The South African was then drafted into the Rising Pune Supergiants along with fellow CSK teammates MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin. In those two seasons - 2016 and 2017, Faf du Plessis could not get much game time as he played only 8 games across both editions. 

He was also a part of the Pune Supergiants team that got beaten by the Mumbai Indians during the 2017 IPL final under the captaincy of Steve Smith. Then during the 2018 auction when CSK returned from the ban, Faf du Plessis was bought back using the RTM card for a price of 1.6 crores, which was originally offered by the Punjab Kings. 

In 2018, Faf du Plessis had played just 6 games for CSK but he played a crucial role behind the franchise's charge towards their 7th IPL final. The former Proteas captain had remained not out at 67 in qualifier 1 against Hyderabad, who eventually got beaten by CSK in the finale by 8 wickets in Wankhede. 

During the 2019 and 2020 seasons, du Plessis scored 396 and 449 from 12 and 13 matches respectively. But in the 2021 season wherein Chennai lifted their 4th IPL trophy, the South African experienced his best season with bat for the Yellow Army, scoring 633 runs. du Plessis was adjudged as man of the match in that season's final for scoring 86 off 59 against the Kolkata Knight Riders. 

He was released by the CSK ahead of the 2022 Mega auction, wherein RCB struck a deal of 7 Crores for him. Faf du Plessis was then made the captain of Bengaluru and he has been with them ever since. 

What did Virat Kohli say to du Plessis after the 2022 Auction? 

Faf du Plessis recently revealed the text message that Virat Kohli sent to him after he was bought by RCB in the 2022 auction.

Kohli had told du Plessis that he was the guy that the franchise really desired to have and those words immediately made the South African feel at home. The latter was also given the reigns of captaincy by Kohli, who felt that du Plessis was the one who deserved to lead the side.   

"Virat backs me a lot, after the auction he sends me a message that 'you are the guy, we wanted' - that made me feel like a home & took lots of pressure on me as he is such a big figure & whole India wants him to be the captain so his support means a lot for me". - du Plessis said via Star Sports. 

How has it gone for du Plessis in RCB?

In his first season with the RCB in 2022, Faf du Plessis helped them finish 4th in the points table. However, they had to exit the tournament after eventual runners-up Rajasthan Royals came out on top in the 2nd Qualifier match. du Plessis had scored 468 runs that year. 

Last season (2023), Faf went through his best-ever IPL season as a batter, scoring 730 runs at a 150+ strike rate which included 8 half-centuries. But RCB had a poor season as they finished 6th. This season it has gone from bad to worse for RCB as they have won just 2 games out of their 9 league matches with du Plessis scoring just 264 runs so far.