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Xtra Time Web Desk : Royal Challengers Bangalore's newly appointed skipper Faf Du Plessis on Saturday opened up to the media for the first time in an RCB event, since he was handed over the leadership role earlier, this evening.

In a chat which had points about how the Bangalore franchise are looking forward to this season's Indian Premier League, Faf spoke about former skipper Virat Kohli and his current role inside the team.

"Even with him (Kohli) not being the captain, that energy he brings to himself and to the team is hugely important for us. We’ll try and use that as best as we can. His (Kohli) performance as a cricket player has been probably one of the greatest, so huge respect for what he’s done not only with the bat in his hand but also in captaincy perspective, he’s changed Indian cricket,” said the former South Africa captain.

“I’ve seen that happen over time. Playing against India for so long, I could see that shift, his leadership footprint has brought in the Indian team — a competitive, fit Indian team that was fighting fire with fire as no Indian team ever did before. He’s got an extremely strong leadership style and that rubs off obviously on players underneath him and that is something that we would still need," stated the 37 year old.

“I’ve seen that happen over time. Playing against India for so long, I could see that shift, his leadership footprint has brought in the Indian team — a competitive, fit Indian team that was fighting fire with fire as no Indian team ever did before. He’s got an extremely strong leadership style and that rubs off obviously on players underneath him and that is something that we would still need," added the former Chennai Super Kings opener.