But in the wildest of dreams no Indian fan would have thought that MSD would be removed as captain of Rising Pune Supergiants, just a day ahead of IPL 2017 auction. Dhoni, who relinquished his position as Indian captain on his own, has been sacked for the very first time from the role which made him what he is today. Negative impact on Smith's battingBy removing Dhoni as captain, the RPS owners have made it clear that they would not be satisfied with any average performance on the field. Smith on the other hand has to depend on the inputs from coaching stuff and MSD to eke out a situation in which his players would thrive. The move may backfire if Smith doesn't fire with the batIPL rules facilitate each franchise to play just four foreigners and in case Smith doesn't hit the ground running as a batsman, he will turn out to be a burden on the team.

Source: dna February 19, 2017 16:17 UTC