Hyderabad:Former India batter and IPL Expert, JioCinema Aakash Chopra asserted that he would be very surprised if Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) retain their current captain Faf du Plessis ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega-auction.
Faf du Plessis, who is the fourth leading run-getter of the franchise, joined RCB when he was picked for a massive Rs seven crore in the 2021 mega-auction. On March 12, 2022, the former RCB Skipper, Virat Kohli announced that he would be passing on the baton to Faf du Plessis, who will be the new Captain of the franchise.
When asked about whether RCB will retain Faf du Plessis and Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, Aakash Chopra said, "I will be very surprised if Faf du Plessis is retained by RCB. For the specific reason that in the past the first retention costs you about 16-17 crores, even the second one is very expensive and it's a three-year deal."
"Whoever you going to retain, are you 100 per cent sure that he is my three-year FD (Fixed Deposit) and can cash, in the third season as well? Faf, well he has played all-right, but will Faf be available three years down the line, who knows? So, that is my only concern. Great player, and a very good captain, but very difficult to say which way retentions are going to go," he added.
However, Aakash, who played 10 Tests for India, also mentioned that when it comes to retention, the details about how many players you can retain, and how many right-to-match cards are available are unknown yet, which will help the franchise's to draw the perfect strategy to build another team which will potentially win the trophy for you.