Du Plessis, who has won four titles with Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has been appointed captain of an IPL franchise for the first time. However, he has a lot of experience of captaincy at the international level. He has led the Proteas in a significant number of T20 matches.
Du Plessis made his T20 International debut in 2012. He took over the captaincy of South Africa’s T20 team in the same year.
Du Plessis led the Proteas team in 40 T20Is, winning 24 and losing 15. Apart from these, one match has ended in a tie. Du Plessis played his last as captain against Sri Lanka in 2019.
As captain, du Plessis has scored 1,273 runs in 40 T20Is at an average of 37.44. He recorded a strike rate of 134.28 while leading South Africa.
Du Plessis recorded his only century as captain. Meanwhile, he also scored seven half-centuries. He scored 119 runs against West Indies in 2015. Especially in 2015 (as captain) he averaged 54.40 in T20 Internationals.
Du Plessis holds the record for the highest individual score by a South African batsman in T20 International cricket.
He scored 119 runs in 56 balls with the help of 11 fours and 5 sixes against West Indies in 2015. This is still the fifth highest score by a captain in T20 Internationals.
Du Plessis also recorded the third fastest century by a batsman in T20 Internationals (46 balls).
Du Plessis has captained Comilla Victorians, Paarl Rocks, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and St Lucia Kings in all T20 leagues around the world. He has also captained the World XI before this.
Overall, du Plessis captained in 79 T20 matches, winning 43 and losing 34. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see whether du Plessis can get RCB the first title in IPL 2022.
Du Plessis had a tremendous performance in IPL 2021 and scored 633 runs at an average of 45.21. Meanwhile, he also scored six half-centuries with the highest score of 95*. He was the second highest run-scorer after Rituraj Gaikwad (635).