'I’ll go with Faf du Plessis’ - Reece Topley picks South African star over Rohit Sharma as best IPL captain [Exclusive]

In an exclusive interaction with CricTracker, Reece Topley shared his thoughts on what Rohit Sharma is like in the dressing room. He also revealed who, between Rohit Sharma and Faf du Plessis, he considers the best IPL captain he has played under. 

Topley further opened up about his experience of playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk when MS Dhoni is in action, comparing the atmosphere there with the Wankhede Stadium and M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Excerpts from the interview:

Rohit Sharma's captaincy is famous for being calm under fire — did you ever see him lose his cool in the dressing room, even once? 

No, never seen Rohit lose his cool. You know, even when things, you know, haven't gone the team's way, he's definitely always cool under pressure. What does it say? 

If you had to pick just one — Rohit or Faf — as the best IPL captain you've played under, who takes it and why? 

I'll go Faf. Faf was, he was always accountable. I think he was happy to sort of take the pressure of the big, big decisions and big moments, but then also be held accountable for those. He wouldn't, you know, dictate something to you and then sort of not take responsibility for that. He'd always converse in pretty calm manner, even when the stakes were high or when the game was on the line. And then also just his leadership qualities, you know, cricket leadership qualities stem from off the field stuff, pre-match and in training, almost leading by example. So yeah, that's why I'd go with Faf. 

MS Dhoni's Chennai faithful are legendary for their loyalty — does Chepauk hit different compared to Wankhede or Chinnaswamy, even when Dhoni isn't batting? 

I remember, I think we had the first game in Chennai and there was a singer out with some actors that were on a motorcycle going around the stadium. I don't know who they were, but that was pretty cool. And that was just before the game. I remember that sort of hit me, you know, as the game was about to start at the opening ceremony. And then when we played the game after that, I think it was with RCB and we had, you know, Virat going out to bat and obviously Dhoni was out there as well. It was just, yeah, it was probably the best atmosphere I've ever seen in a cricket match.