Veteran batsman Faf du Plessis emerged as Bangalore’s leading run-getter last year, while run-machine Virat Kohli had a disappointing IPL 2022 season with RCB.

In his first season as captain of the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, former South African captain Faf du Plessis led from the front. At the mega auction, the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener was sold to RCB for a whopping INR 7 crore. In his first year as captain of the Bengaluru-based team, Du Plessis led RCB to the playoffs.

Veteran batter Du Plessis emerged as the Bangalore franchise’s leading run-getter, whereas run-machine Kohli had a disappointing IPL 2022 season with RCB

In the 2022 Indian Premier League, Du Plessis scored 468 runs for the Kohli-led team. Aakash Chopra, a former Indian opener, predicted that Kohli would become the team’s leading run-scorer in 2023 when discussing RCB’s batting line up ahead of the new season.

“Who will be the highest run-scorer for this team – Faf or Virat Kohli? I am going to go with Virat Kohli. Virat didn’t score runs last year. It cannot happen every year, so he will score runs and then the team will look slightly stronger. They have a very good captain in the form of Faf du Plessis. If we talk about the batting, Virat Kohli comes to open along with Faf du Plessis. They might not have a place for Anuj Rawat and then Rajat Patidar at No. 3, he has performed very well,”

Chopra told Jio Cinema.

“After that, they play Glenn Maxwell. Then they gave chances to Mahipal Lomror and Shahbaz Ahmed, and then comes Dinesh Karthik, who performs the finisher’s role. The batting looks alright,”

the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter added. 

Bangalore suffered a heavy blow in the lead-up to the new season as Will Jacks was ruled out of the IPL 2023. Jacks was roped in by RCB for INR 3.2 crore at the IPL auction.

The Englishman sustained a muscle injury while playing for England in Bangladesh. New Zealand’s Michael Bracewell has joined the RCB camp as the replacement for the injured batting all-rounder. Bracewell has been signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore at his auction base price of INR 1 crore. The 32-year-old has played 16 T20Is for the Black Caps.

“Will Jacks went out and Michael Bracewell came in. Michael Bracewell is a gun player – understands the pulse of T20 cricket, a wonderful striker of the cricket ball although his bowling might work limitedly, especially at the Chinnaswamy,”

Chopra concluded.