The tenth edition of IPL started off with the biggest buzz when former India captain MS Dhoni was replaced by Steven Smith as the captain of the franchise Rising Pune Supergiant.
But things have turned up the best way for the Supergiant. Dhoni had played his part along with captain Smith which resulted in Pune being the best performers of the season cruising off to their maiden finals. Though, after a shaky start, they have won seven of their last eight games and even without some of their star players like Imran Tahir and Ben Stokes, they defeated Mumbai Indians in the qualifier one.
They are just one win away from lifting the coveted IPL 2017 trophy and given their recent form against the other finalists, Mumbai Indians, they can create a history by winning it off in their last season.
Recently, RPS team owner Sanjiv Goenka said the success of the Dhoni-Smith partnership is at the root of the team’s stellar performance this season
“When two of the best minds meet this is what you get.”
He was also impressed by the young talents that the team has nurtured upon likes of Tripathy, Undakat, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur. According to him, They have a huge hand in the team’s success.
“The Indian youngsters in the team have exceeded expectations and have learnt a lot from Dhoni and Smith.
“To have Smith and Dhoni in the same dressing room is a huge learning for everyone in the team.
“They have won everything that is there to win in world cricket and RPS has benefited as a result: see the semi-final.
“Dhoni unleashed himself in the last two overs knowing you can wait till the end before you launch a brutal assault. That comes from experience,” Goenka stated.
Confident ahead of the final, Goenka concluded by saying “the season is already a huge success.”
“My brief to Smith was: win the championship. It’s difficult to believe the way he has planned some dismissals, the tact and the firmness with which he has dealt with tricky situations and the win-or-nothing attitude he has been able to infuse in the team, get them to gel as a unit. And he’s gone out in the strategic timeouts to tell batsmen to either score 30 of the next 12 balls or get out. If we had a bad start, it was because Smith was out with food poisoning,” said Goenka.
Two days before he stops being an IPL owner, Goenka doesn’t know about the future but said dealing with great minds and building relationships have been important takeaways.
The RPSG and football franchise Atletico de Kolkata owner said he is feeling somewhat ‘paternalistic’ towards players such as Smith, Tripathi and Unadkat among others.
“You want them to do well because they are such lovely people,” he said.