Rising Pune Supergiants MS Dhoni Removed from Captaincy – Steven Smith Replaces him

I was anxious, not really knowing what would happen.

Kolkata: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Sunday removed as captain of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) and replaced by Australian Steve Smith, ending his innings as skipper in both global and franchise cricket.

It comes as a major shock for cricket fans as Dhoni resigned as India’s limited overs skipper barely two months back. The IPL tournament will begin on April 5.

Rising Pune Supergiants Owner Sanjiv Goenka made an ambitious bet for English all-rounder Ben Stokes for Rs 14.5 crore drastically higher than his base price of Rs 2 crore. “He’s no longer a friend of Ben Stokes“, joked Richard Madley.

Stokes though expressed his joy being picked as the highest paid overseas player and also showed his hunger of playing with MS Dhoni.

After Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended, Pune Supergiants picked up Dhoni straightaway in the 2016 player draft.

IPL 2017 is going to be so much fun.

Hyderabad’s Mohammed Siraj was bought for a tidy Rs. 2.6 crore (SRH), and Karnataka’s K. Gowtham for Rs. 2 crore (MI), both players rewarded for their Ranji Trophy performances. I’m looking forward to getting out there and getting involved. I guess having more than one team wanting me was probably the best position to be in.

Recalling them for the training camp does mean the England players will not be available for the knockout stages of the IPL should their teams make it that far.

He also expressed his excitement at playing in Pune, which he termed as one of his favourite grounds. Money comes later. IPL is a big platform and I was more interested to get an opportunity to perform on that stage.

“I think I will only miss the last group game”. I haven’t been able to play in the past so that was the main thing, anything else was just a bonus.

Tymal Mills, however, who signed for Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 120m (£1.43m, $1.79m), will play the duration of the tournament along with Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Chris Jordan.

Left-armer Mills is England’s fastest bowler but is limited to playing T20 cricket because of back pain and has played only four T20 games at worldwide level.