Former South African captain Faf du Plessis believed that although Gautam Gambhir’s intense competition frequently made him the “villain in the story,” it actually strengthened the teams he was a member of, like the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Under Gambhir’s captaincy, KKR won two Indian Premier League titles and the third came when he was the mentor of the side in 2024. He has since led the Indian side to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and this year’s T20 World Cup as head coach.
“My perspective of Gambhir is obviously very different from the guys who play with him. He’s always the villain in the story when it comes to playing against him, but you respect that,” PTI quoted Du Plessis as saying on JioHotstar.
“… and that’s the key thing with Gautam Gambhir, he’s so competitive. He does not worry for one second about being liked by anyone. His job as a leader is to set high standards and have accountability within the dressing room.”
According to Du Plessis, Gambhir inspires the opposition captain as well by setting high expectations and holding everyone accountable in the dressing room.
“From the outside, as a fellow leader playing against him, you want to beat him because of the way he carries himself as the opposition, but you respect the fact that he sets such high standards,” he said.
“That’s what good leaders do, and he’s created that since the day he started playing. If you look at his record, you have to take your hat off and say, from a leadership perspective, KKR with him was a stronger team,” the South African remarked.
According to Du Plessis, who was the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a captain is not the only person who can assume a leadership role in franchise cricket.
“People always think of the captain when they look at leadership within an organisation or team. Yes, the captain plays a role, but for me, it runs down from the top. It’s your owners, coach, and the leadership group within the team,” Du Plessis said.
“When you look at successful teams like MI, CSK, and KKR, there’s a Gautam with a Shreyas Iyer, or a (MS) Dhoni with a (Stephen) Fleming. Even last year with RCB, you had really strong leadership at the top with Andy Flower and Mo Bobat but with a very inexperienced captain (Rajat Patidar), for whom it was the first time captaining in the IPL,” he said.
The 41-year-old emphasized that the team’s success depends on a strong captain-coach relationship.
“If you have a strong captain, then a lot falls on him because he drives the team. But if you don’t have a strong captain, that’s when a strong coach steps in and I suppose that’s where Gambhir was so effective,” Du Plessis added.
