• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Ipl 2022 Watson Believes That Rcbs Captaincy Shift Was A Tactically Brilliant Decision

IPL 2022 | Watson believes that RCB's captaincy shift was a tactically brilliant decision

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.


Discover more
Top Stories
news

'Aim To Make England No. 1 Test Team': Brendon McCullum expresses his ambitions with England

Brendon McCullum, England's recently appointed head coach for red-ball cricket, spoke to the press about his ambitions and what he aims to achieve with England. McCullum expressed that he aims to make England the number one Test side in the world. England is currently placed 6th on the Test rankings and is having a nightmare of a run in the longest format of the game. They have won just a single match out of their last 17 tests. Following a 4-0 whitewash in the recent Ashes series. Ex-coach Chris Silverwood resigned under obvious circumstances, and after that, captain Joe Root stepped down from captaincy. Ben Stokes was announced as the successor of Root, while McCullum was picked as the head coach. He faces his first challenge against his native team New Zealand in a 3-Test match home series. Speaking about the new era for English cricket, McCullum spoke about Stokes while answering the reporters on Friday. He said, "I think with Stokesy as captain we've got a really strong leader." The former Black Caps skipper further discussed his coaching style and shared his opinions on Test cricket. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said, "I think for me red-ball cricket has always been the pinnacle of the sport." Commenting on his coaching style, he said that he doesn't coach technically. "I understand the technique obviously but for me, it's more around tactics and man-management and trying to provide the right environment for the team to try and go out there and be the best versions of themselves," he added. 'Baz' reaffirmed his aim to take England back to the number one spot in Test rankings and admitted that it's not something that will happen overnight. The English team is currently practising at full force at the St. George Stadium and will be facing New Zealand on 2rd June for the first match at Lord's. However, McCullum was seen asking for support from the fans to uplift the morale of red-ball cricket in England. "If you look at where the game sits currently, it's probably on a bit of a downward trend and to be the nation that can really change that is England — because of the tradition of Test cricket here in England and I guess the fan following and the support that it gets in this country," McCullum concluded.