Steven Smith – 8/10:
Steven Smith has proved his worth as a captain by successfully replacing the MS Dhoni. Many doubted his capability of leading an IPL side. It felt like a hasty decision by the RPS management. But, the moves paid off very nicely as RPS is now readying for the qualifiers after finishing as the second-ranked team in the points table at the end of the league stage. Smith rotated his players to a good extent, a couple of underrated names like Rahul Tripathi and Jaydev Unadkat rose to the top while stars like Ben Stokes and Imran Tahir were at their best. All these factors combined Smith’s brainy tactics has now made RPS one of the favourites to win the 10 edition.