Rajasthan Royals name Steve Smith the captain of the team for IPL 2018
Smith was the captain of the Supergiant in IPL 2017 and took them to the final.
The Rajasthan Royals had quite a few options in their ranks while settling on the name of the skipper and they’ve decided to appoint Steve Smith as the captain. Smith who was with RR in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 and 2015 before switching over to RPS was the only player retained by the team ahead of the auction. He has been leading Australia in all three formats of the game has been very successful and thus he was the prominent name in the race.
Rising Pune Supergiant had appointed him their captain in the IPL 2017, the team that failed to win most of their matches in 2016 suddenly performed like an inspired bunch. They were as close to the championship title as it gets and lost the final to Mumbai Indians by just 1 run. The Royals hosted an event to name the skipper and it was the team mentor Shane Warne who made the announcement.
On being named the skipper, Smith was really happy and said: “It’s great to be back with the Royals had a really great time playing for them last time. Thank you for giving me the honour and privilege of leading the Royals. Hope we will be able to bring glory to the team.”
“It’s great to have the king (Shane Warne) on board looking forward to working closely with him and having a successful campaign with the Royals,” he further added.
Speaking at the appointment of Smith as the captain, Head of Cricket, Zubin Bharucha said, “We have some great players and cricketing minds in the team with proven leaders like Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane. We came to the conclusion that Steve Smith would be the ideal candidate for the job. Smith has been incredible as captain of Australia. He is someone who leads the team by example.”
Warne lauds Smith
The mentor of the team, Warne said: “He’s (Steve Smith) done really well leading the Australian team, he is an amazing batsman and a really good leader. We have a great squad and looking forward to a great campaign. He has been doing that for a while now (leading team) and has been successful so really looking forward to it.”
Smith had last played for the Royals when Rahul Dravid was the coach talking about this transition from Dravid to Warne the Aussie stated, “Rahul was fantastic around the Royals, the respect he had from Indian, overseas players, young and old was amazing. Warnie is a different character and his presence will be a different yet a good experience for the team. Hope we are able to get things on track and win the IPL this year.”
Follow CricTracker for all the latest cricket news, match updates and more.
Download Our App