Stephen Fleming likely to join Pune as head coach

Former CSK coach Stephen Fleming may well team up with MS Dhoni for the upcoming IPL season. It has been learnt that the Pune franchise, owned by Sanjeev Goenka’s New Rising, is most likely to appoint Fleming as their head coach. An official announcement for which is expected in the next few days.

In Tuesday’s first IPL draft, the Pune franchise had bought five players – including CSK’s Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Faf du Plessis and Rajasthan Royals’ Ajinkya Rahane and Steven Smith. Soon after the draft, Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG Enterprises and brother of Sanjeev Goenka, tweeted that they are on the way to build a formidable core team with Dhoni and Fleming.

“#IPLDraft Pune with Dhoni as Captain and Fleming as Coach has built a formidable core team. Winning choices made,” Harsh tweeted.

Fleming, though, remained tight-lipped about the move. “I am not in a position to make any comment at this point in time,” he said.

At CSK, the Fleming-Dhoni partnership had won two IPL titles and were runners-up thrice. No wonder, the Pune franchise is keen on roping in the former New Zealand skipper.

Sanjeev confirmed that they are in the final stages of negotiations with the coach and an announcement will be made in the next couple of days. “We have approached a lot of people and have shortlisted a few. But I don’t think it would be right to reveal any names at this stage. We are in the final process of negotiations and you have to wait for a couple of more days for the name,” Sanjeev said on Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/hvgoenka/status/676668466078724096

Analysis: Pune squad for IPL 2016