Steve Smith, the newly appointed captain of the Rising Pune Supergiants, made some interesting comments when he sat down at the press conference donning his new role for the first time. Speaking at the meet, the 27-year-old said that he would try to keep his mind as clear as possible and try not to seek too many opinions from his teammates.
“I have plenty of guys to talk to, but I will not seek too many opinions. Seeking too many opinions can cloud your own judgement. I want to try and stay as clear as possible. But yes, if someone sees something and feels the need to point it out to me, they are more than welcome,” he said.
Apart from Dhoni, Smith will also be leading the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Faf du Plessis. Both the individuals with decent captaincy experience. Therefore, when asked whether, having such personalities affect his approach, he gave a positive answer stating it will only make his job easier.
“It is great to have so many leaders in the team from around the world and I believe it will make my job easier. There should be no hindrance,” he said.
Talking in reference to whether he will be asking for assistance from former skipper MS Dhoni whom he has replaced as the new skipper of the side, Smith says that he has already spoken with him via messages and professionally they have everything in right terms between them.
Asked if Smith had a word with Dhoni after the change in captains going into the auction ahead of this season of IPL, the Australia skipper said:
“We have shared a few messages and MS has been very supportive and there are no issues there. I don’t think our professional relation will have any effect post the change of captaincy.”
Smith is fresh from leading his side in the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Series. The intensely fought series was in the headlines for a string of heated controversy apart from the top quality cricketing action.
Indian skipper Kohli, at the end of the series, remarked that the incident which happened in the series have changed his point of view towards Australian cricketers and he doesn’t consider them friends anymore.
However, Kohli later went on clarify that the statement was miscommunicated and he still has ‘some’ friends in the Aussie team.
When asked if Smith was a part of Virat’s Aussie ‘friends’, the RPSG skipper joked:
“That is for Virat Kohli to decide if I am one of them. India outplayed us 2-1 in the Test series and I have moved on. Now I am excited to take over the reins of Rising Pune Supergiant.”
Smith also said that it feels good to be back in the IPL after playing the high-intensity Test series.
“Great to be back and lead Pune. It is a privilege to lead these set of boys. I am really excited and it is a good squad so hopefully, we will do well this year,” he said.
Smith also feels that IPL is a big platform and says that the cash-rich league is a big exposure platform for the youngsters.
“IPL has been very beneficial not just to me, but also to a lot of young international stars. The honour of sharing the dressing room with the experienced international stars and also to learn about the game from them. It gets me really excited,” he said.
Asked to compare teammate Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli’s captaincy, Smith said:
“They are very different people and I have already spoken about it. Ajinkya Rahane is very calm and cool while Virat Kohli likes to show emotions and is aggressive by nature. That is all I will give you.”