New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said everyone in the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) dressing room was shocked on hearing that MS Dhoni was removed as the side’s captain and replaced by premier Australian batter Steve Smith ahead of the 2017 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Du Plessis, who was in the squad then, also said Smith handled the role admirably despite being new to leadership. Dhoni was stripped of the RPS captaincy before the 2017 IPL season began. It was a decision taken by the franchise owner, Sanjiv Goenka, at that time.
Smith, who was early in his Australian captaincy career, took charge with Dhoni playing under him, and guided the Pune-based franchise to the 2017 IPL final, where they lost to Mumbai Indians by one run. It was also RPS’s last game of the tournament.
“MS Dhoni was removed as captain of Rising Pune Supergiants after the end of the 2016 IPL season, and that’s the biggest move you can make in a tournament of that stature. We hadn’t won a couple of games, and the owner at the time made the decision to change the captain. Everyone was shocked after that call.
“MS Dhoni as captain was gone, and Steve Smith was the new captain. That was pretty early on in his leadership career. He wasn’t experienced, but he did a good job. It was tough having MS Dhoni as your number two there, especially after he’d just been removed as captain.
“Smith led the team to the final, and we lost that final, which we should have won. We were that close. Winning that final would have made Smith an IPL-winning captain in just one season of captaincy. That says a lot about him,” du Plessis said on Cricinfo’s ‘Cricketers on Cricketers’ show.
RPS and Gujarat Lions were brought in as stand-in franchises for two seasons after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were suspended over their team officials’ involvement in illegal betting, following the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.
Both teams were disbanded once CSK and RR returned to the IPL in 2018. After that, Dhoni moved back to CSK and led them to IPL title wins in 2018, 2021 and 2023 respectively. Goenka, meanwhile, currently owns Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), which is now among the 10 participating teams in the league.
–IANS
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