When Rising Pune Supergiant made the decision of sacking MS Dhoni as their captain and giving the duties to Australian captain Steve Smith, there was widespread anger and disappointment among MS Dhoni fans. Dhoni is one of the most successful captains in cricket history and after he made the decision of stepping down as India’s captain in limited-overs cricket earlier this years, his fans were hoping that they would get to see their ‘Captain Cool’ leading RPS in IPL 2017. But, the decision of sacking Dhoni by RPS owners, came as a big shock for the massive army of his fans.
RPS owners decided to make a change in their leadership and gave the responsibility to Steve Smith. Smith is also a good choice because he leads Australia well and is one of the best batsmen in world cricket, across all three formats of the game. And, to his credit, he led RPS well throughout the tournament and took them to the final, where they lost to their neighbours Mumbai Indians.
However, it would be fair to say that Dhoni was at the forefront of almost everything in the middle for RPS. He is a brilliant tactician and time and again we saw Smith taking advice for him regarding field placements and bowling changes. There were times when Dhoni himself walked up to Smith and gave him advices that made a lot of difference in the end. Dhoni, from the moment he was sacked from RPS captaincy, accepted franchise’s decision very gracefully and contributed towards team’s success with all his energy and skills.
In the video shared below, you can see how MS Dhoni was proactive in making fielding changes and giving advice to Steve Smith throughout IPL 2017.
NOTE: This video was embedded from a Facebook page and The Cricket Lounge doesn’t claim any right on it.
