Not paying too much heed to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s indifferent showing with the bat in the league so far, Rising Pune Supergiant skipper Steve Smith has said he is happy with his predecessor’s current situation.
The former India skipper, who was replaced by Smith as the skipper of the Pune-based outfit for the ongoing season, has made a poor start to the season, scoring just 61 runs in the first five matches if the tournament. He showed a glimpse of his past form with a 28-run knock on a tough pitch against Royal Challengers Bangalore including a monstrous six that landed on the stadium roof in the last match and Smith is confident the 35-year old ‘class player’ will make his mark sooner than later.
“I am happy where MS is at the moment. He is playing the ball well in the nets. And as they say form is temporary, class is permanent, MS is a class player. He hit a monster of a six in the last game and we can see he is looking to find his groove. Hopefully we can see him making him his mark,” Smith said on Friday (April 21).
Smith also praised newly-promoted opener Rahul Tripathi for his performances so far. Pune gave the Maharashtra star a chance to prove himself after Mayank Agarwal managed just 26 runs in the first three matches. Tripathi has justified the team management’s decision by giving his team the brisk start in the last two matches. In the two matches where he opened the innings, Tripathi scored 31 off just 23 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore and a 17-ball 33 against Gujarat Lions.
“Tripathi is very very good up the slot. He started off pretty positively and got us up to couple of good starts,” Smith said.
Smith further said he was impressed by Tripathi before adding that the Tripathi-Rahane duo at the top compliment each other well.
“He was hitting the ball pretty well before the tournament started. I have been impressed by him. He is complementing Rahane very well. Rahane is very classical player, he plays some really good cricket shots and with Tripathi playing the big hits, they complement each other well,” Smith added.
The Australia skipper, who has been in India since almost two months now, jetted off to Dubai for two days to freshen up as his team had six days off in between their last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore and next game versus Sunrisers Hyderabad which is on Saturday (April 22).
“It has been going on for a while now, playing four back-to-back Tests in India and then obviously the IPL, so the idea was to get a little away from the game for a while. Everyone around the world plays so much of cricket. The schedule is getting busier and busier, but you get used to it and I think you have to try and make the most of the little breaks you get. For me, the six days break was about just getting away for a little bit to get refresh mentally and relax,” he said.
With two wins in the first five matches, the Supergiant are languishing at the bottom of the table and Smith said finding the right combination for a new side is a big reason behind it.
“It can be difficult to find out the right combination. That is why we and Gujarat are in a bit of disadvantage as we are in the tournament’s second year now where all the other teams had their core players around for a longer time. They probably have got the combination together for a longer time,” he said.