'I Am Not Going To Be MS Dhoni...', RCB Captain Faf Du Plessis Opens Up On Impact Of Various Captains On His Career

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis spoke at length in the recently-released RCB podcast about the impact of various captains on his cricket career. Faf played a lot of cricket at Chennai Super Kings at the start of his IPL career and over there, he met MS Dhoni, the captain of the side, who displayed a very different style of leadership. Faf said that there was a lot of learning by just watching MSD operate as captain, using odd tactics to win games. Faf also credited former South Africa captain Graeme Smith for having a major impact on his life in the early stages of his career. 

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"I always had this leadership perspective of learning from great leaders, it (leadership) was always something that I was fascinated about. When I initially came into the South African team, Graeme Smith was the captain. I was like, Wow, this guy's got an amazing presence when he speaks — like this big, blinding roar at you, and he just dominated the room while speaking. So I was like, that's a leader, right?" Faf said.

Faf added that even the quiet presence of Stephen Fleming, head coach of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), had an effect on him. He said that merely by sitting next to Fleming you understood how brilliant he was as a man manager.

"I got an opportunity to go to Chennai as a young-ish phase in my career. Stephen Fleming is one of the great leaders within the game, obviously, for New Zealand cricket also. The different aspect was him being a man manager, a guy who just works on relationships. And I go, Wow, that's impressive. During my first season at CSK, I was sitting next to him (Fleming) and just asked him questions about captaincy and leadership, just to learn as much as I can. And then you put MS on top of that, and you go, Wow, this guy's tactically odd to read the game like this. And you go, Okay, he is impressive as a captain," said the former Proteas skipper.

However, Faf also said that while he has learnt a lot from the likes of Smith, Fleming, and Dhoni, he feels he cannot copy them as captain

"I think what was really good for me to go through was, even with all of that, the conviction that I am not going to be Graeme Smith as a captain, I'm not going to be Stephen Fleming as a captain, I'm not going to be MS Dhoni as a captain. In order for me to be true to who I am as a person, I need to be me. Because if you're not being you, then people will see through it, maybe not when you're doing well but definitely when you are under pressure, or underperforming, the real you will reveal itself,” said Faf.