Steve’s been exceptional in his strategies: Sanjiv Goenka

Steven Smith will replace MS Dhoni as captain of Rising Pune Supergiant in the tenth IPL edition- the news that took the nation by a huge storm. The switch emerged on the eve of this year’s IPL auction, less than two months after Dhoni resigned as India’s ODI and T20I captaincy ahead of the home series against England. The franchise took the fresh step but the road was not an easy one.

For Rising Pune Supergiant to finish on the second spot behind Mumbai Indians and ahead of Hyderabad and Kolkata has been no less than a fairytale. In the first half of the season, RPS did not perform well but there was a turnaround following a six-day gap during the middle stages of the tournament when the Supergiant went on to win 9 of 14 matches. Steven Smith was supported well by Stokes, Unadkat, Thakur, Tahir and Tripathi to name a few.

The team owner Sanjiv Goenka is impressed with his team’s performance this year and exclaimed that he is looking at one match at a time, “We had a good league and it’s very satisfying. Bottom line is that the franchise has good players. There’s been happiness and a strong sense of satisfaction,” he told the Telegraph India on Monday.

Change in captaincy a thing of past

Goenka also spoke about his decision to replace Dhoni with Steve Smith. He is impressed by the Australian’s captaincy skills on the field but also feels that Dhoni is an integral part of his franchise.

“The change in captaincy is a thing of the past and, so, not entirely relevant at this stage… MS is an integral part of our franchise and he’s provided valuable inputs. All my players are equally important for me… Each hand has five fingers, but how do I pick one as more important than the rest?” he said.

Goenka praised the new captain’s tactical acumen and how he has handled the crucial situations on the field.

“Steve’s been exceptional with his strategies… With his field placements… He has a great mind… Understandably, it took him a few matches to understand the players, but once he did, there was no stopping us… In fact, we won eight out of the last 10 league matches, which is an impressive number,” he added.

Goenka also exclaimed his interest to keep on playing in the IPL after this edition and hopes that BCCI makes a decision in their favour.