Former South Africa skipper, Faf du Plessis was seen showering praises at MS Dhoni, saying the latter is tactically so impressive that he rates among his top three favorite skippers. The RCB skipper then revealed how during his younger days, he improved his captaincy skills while looking at Dhoni, Stephen Fleming, and Graeme Smith.

MS Dhoni has earned a legion of followers over the years with his captaincy skills and Faf du Plessis is one of them. During a recent chat on RCB Podcast, he revealed how much admiration he has got for the man under whom he enjoyed significant success at Chennai Super Kings (CSK). 

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Faf du Plessis explained, “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. 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.” 

He further added, “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 (Dhoni) on top of that, and you go, ‘Wow, this guy’s (Dhoni) tactically odd to read the game like this.’ And you go, ‘Okay, he is impressive as a captain.’”

However, Faf du Plessis further remarked he has always tried to be unique while taking guidance from the other three.

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Elaborating the same, Faf du Plessis said, “I think what was really good for me to go through (during his career) was the conviction that 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, the real you will reveal itself.”