Myself and AB are team people - Faf du Plessis on his bond with RCB legend AB de Villiers

Faf du Plessis has always been an instrumental force in the shortest format of the game. After leading South Africa, he was handed over RCB captaincy for IPL 2022 and the dashing opener led from the front as he top-scored for the team at the end of the season. 

Talking on the RCB Podcast Season 2, Faf opened up at length about a lot of topics that ranged from from his family to his battles on the cricket field. When asked to pick his favourite match, Faf picked his debut Test and one more.

Faf said, “The game that I always think of as my favourite, it was not necessarily my best innings but for what the team did. Again, I do not have one specific game but it is like a flurry of games. The debut Test obviously, a hundred on debut. It saved the Test match. Then there was this game in Australia where I was very unfairly criticized for shining the ball and went on to score a century.”

Faf also opened up about his partnership and bond with the RCB Hall of Famer, AB de Villiers. Talking in detail about how things turned in his favour in his debut Test, Faf explained his bond with De Villiers and said - “Right through both our careers, myself and AB are very team people. We are team-driven and you know AB was always exceptional when the team needed a win, needed him to do those kinds of blockathons and there were a few occasions against India where we had to do well.”

Talking about that debut match, he said, “That Test match against Australia was obviously one of those where you needed pretty much every ball to be blocked and this is when he decided to do that. It was easy for me to just go in and pretty much survive there and anything outside the off-stump, I was going to leave. Anything on the legs, I was going to flick it. If it’s anything short, I will pull. I didn’t want to start fencing with my gloves.”

Faf concluded by saying, “Fielders were very close by but I loved every single minute I spent out there. You were living the dream that you were watching for so long. It was an epic Test debut for me and obviously has a very special place in my heart.”