Royal Challengers Bangalore is taking on Rajasthan Royals this evening (May 27) in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad. Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson believes the selection of Faf du Plessis as RCB captain after Virat Kohli stepped down as captain was a tactically brilliant decision.
After RCB's 14-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2022 Eliminator on Wednesday in Kolkata, Watson acknowledged on The Grade Cricketer that the team was one of his favourites even before the competition began, thanks to their outstanding auction.
"If even the tournament started, RCB were one of my favourites because of how well they did in the auction and how well-balanced their squad is. Faf du Plessis was a great buy for them. Because knowing that Virat was going to step down, Faf was probably was one of the only few players I think would do a brilliant job by getting the best out of Virat as not the captain and steer the franchise into right direction," he said.
"It was tactically a brilliant decision to get Faf involved and lead. He is great guy and very good leader. Very compassionate, caring and empathetic guy. He was always going to do a good job and combine that with Kohli, Maxwell and Hazlewood," he added.
The former Australian also added Josh Hazelwood and Harshal Patel as the key players for RCB in the playoffs.
"Josh Hazlewood, he has shown that with CSK, and now his bowling the T20s, has gone through the roof in the last 18 months. Harshal Patel has added value again; Josh he has just been brilliant in the last couple of years."
The maestro all-rounder also mentioned that Dinesh Karthik is the franchise's 'standout' performer this season. As per Watson, Karthik's performance this season is the reason why his comeback in India's T20I squad against South Africa in a five-match series.
"And the one who has been the biggest standout has been Dinesh Karthik. To finish off innings like that, they could have been stagnated a bit, but he got 32 of 16 balls to really provide that extra little burst. He has done that just about every time he has batted for RCB," Watson concluded.