IPL 2017: Supergiant will bank on Big Ben

Rising Pune Supergian


SQUAD: Steve Smith (Captain), FAF du Plessis, Adam Zampa, Usman Khawaja, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Jaskaran Singh,

Baba Aparajith

, Deepak Chahar, Mayank Agarwal, Ben Stokes, Daniel Christian, Lockie Ferguson, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Milind Tandon, Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir.

IN: Ben Stokes, Daniel Christian, Lockie Ferguson, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Milind Tandon, Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir.

OUT: Kevin Pietersen, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, RP Singh, Scott Boland, M Ashwin, Peter Handscomb, Saurabh Tiwary, Albie Morkel, George Bailey.

AVAILABILITY: There's been a major jolt to RPS's ambitions even before a ball has been bowled in IPL-10. The world's best off-spinner R Ashwin has pulled out of the tournament due to injury. He has been diagnosed with sports hernia and has been advised six to eight weeks of rehab. Another key player, Mitchell Marsh from Australia, too, is nursing an injury and has been replaced by Imran Tahir. Meanwhile, all-rounders Parvez Rasool and teenager Washington Sundar have been called up for trials as possible replacements for Ashwin.

STRENGTHS: They took a bold decision by naming Steve Smith as captain to replace MS Dhoni for the upcoming season, and that may prove crucial. The Aussie leads from the front and if he gets going, the entire line-up may follow suit. Also, they have spent heavily in acquiring the services of some top performers including Ben Stokes who is an ideal T20 campaigner.

WEAKNESS: RPS had a forgettable season in 2016 when they finished seventh, managing to win only five of their 14 games. Although they have players who can turn on the heat at any given time, they have struggled to find consistency and that's something they would need to tackle over the coming weeks if they have to improve on their showing last season when they finished a disappointing seventh on the points table and were ravaged by injuries.