After a disappointing first season, the think tank of Rising Pune Supergiant took a huge step when they announced their decision to replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the skipper of the side with Steve Smith.
After a pathetic run under Dhoni's captaincy last year, where the batting order was seen wobbling on most of the occasions, the management splurged money at IPL 2017 auction where they bought English all-rounder Ben Stokes for a whopping Rs 14.5 crore.
Stokes, who impressed everybody with his all-round skills in the limited-overs series against India earlier this year, will have to play a crucial role for the team this year for a good show.
The squad boasts of some quality players in Smith, Rahane, du Plessis with Dhoni and Stokes to strengthen the middle-order. Rahane and du Plessis are two players who can change the fortunes of the team this year with their consistency.
RPS also have two formidable spinners in Adam Zampa and Imran Tahir while their pace attack is a matter of concern for the management.
Not to forget, Smith has been in red hot form and he needs to live up to the expectations of the think tank by leading from the front.
Here's all you need to know about RPS:
Captain: Steve Smith
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Best Performance: Finished at 7th position in maiden IPL season 2016
Likely playing XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Ben Stokes, Rajat Bhatia, Imran Tahir, Ankit Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ishwar Pandey
Players to watch out for: Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Adam Zampa
