"Virat Kohli has been a terrible influence"- Faf du Plessis
Legendary South Africa batter Faf du Plessis has broken his silence on his friendship with Virat Kohli. Both Kohli and Du Plessis have been playing together for Royal Challengers Bengaluru since IPL 2022 after Du Plessis was signed by the franchise for INR 7 Crore.
Kohli was RCB's captain till the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 but gave up the captaincy before the IPL 2022 season. As a result, Du Plessis replaced him for the role from the IPL 2022 season and is continuing at it.
Over the years, both legendary players have been RCB's pillars at the top of the order. Both are the designated openers for RCB and have provided the team with good starts on various occasions. Even during the fielding part, both have been seen having intense discussions with each other.
Faf du Plessis breaks silence on his friendship with Virat Kohli
In a video uploaded by Star Sports on social media, Faf du Plessis spoke about his friendship with Virat Kohli over the years and the similarities that both of them share in terms of fashion and food.
"I think both of us take our bodies seriously in terms of trying to be the best athlete we can be. So, yeah we do spend a lot of time in the gym together. We both love food and experiencing food. We are both really into our fashion. That's another thing that we spend a lot of time talking about. We would send each other pictures of outfits and stuff like that," Du Plessis said in a video uploaded by Star Sports on X (formerly Twitter).
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Du Plessis further mentioned that Kohli has a huge passion for watches which has been a terrible influence on the South African. RCB captain also spoke about the high energy and passion while batting with Kohli and called him one of the favorite guys to bat with.
"He has been a terrible influence on me" - Faf du Plessis on Virat Kohli
"He has been a terrible influence on me when it comes to watches. He has got a real passion for watches. My bank balance doesn't appreciate or friendship because of that. The batting is probably the other thing that we equally click on. It is unbelievable batting with him," Du Plessis said.
"He is one of my favorite guys to bat with. He brings out so much energy in me like sometimes I feel like I'm fist-bumping my glove through his hand because he gets so passionate being out there in the middle. It's really infectious the way he gives that energy," he added.
The pair of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli is the second most successful opening pair in the history of the IPL. The pair has scored 1773 runs in 33 matches with six hundred-plus partnerships. They are only behind Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner, who are at the top of the list and proved to be a successful opening pair for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
They also hold the record for the most runs scored by an opening pair in a single IPL season when they scored 939 runs in 14 innings with three hundred-plus stands in IPL 2023.