Smith to lead IPL side in place of Dhoni

E-Paper | November 02, 2026

Smith to lead IPL side in place of Dhoni

AFP Published February 20, 2017

NEW DELHI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been removed as skipper of his Indian Premier League (IPL) team with Australia’s Steve Smith replacing him for the upcoming tournament, an official statement said on Sunday.

Dhoni, who stepped down as India’s limited-overs captain last month, will continue to play as wicketkeeper-batsman for the Rising Pune Supergiants in the Twenty20 franchise-based competition that begins April 5.

“Rising Pune Supergiant today announced the appointment of Steve Smith as their new captain for the forthcoming edition of IPL season 10,” a team statement said.

Team owner Sanjiv Goenka said Dhoni “is supportive of the decision, keeping the franchise’s best interests in mind”.

Under 35-year-old Dhoni’s captaincy, the Pune team finished second last in their debut IPL season in 2016, winning only five games and losing nine.

Published in Dawn, february 20th , 2017

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Sajid Hasan

Feb 20, 2017 08:45am

Sad news...smith is no way a captain who can replace M S DHONI...

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Ahamd

Feb 20, 2017 09:17am

@Sajid Hasan Dhoni is retiring soon so no point of keeping him as captain.

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Nilesh

Feb 20, 2017 09:37am

Good time to learn from Smith.... Dhoni fan.

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kerala

Feb 20, 2017 10:38am

Next year is the mega IPL auction where a fresh start after 10 yrs. All players are released for open bidding by all teams.Waiting for 2018 auction and preparing for a mind blowing base price of Kohli. This year Ben stokes got a golden bid.

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LUUUKKE Furtado

Feb 20, 2017 10:52am

Tactical decision ...After Dhoni hung up his captaincy boots for India it freed him up to score massive runs....Centuries in ODI's and 50's in T20 in the recently concluded English tour of India.....Seems like a wise move to me........However time will tell......

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Mouli

Feb 20, 2017 11:26am

Ok. So MSD can jump to CSK as a captain when it returns next year ;).

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kerala

Feb 20, 2017 12:20pm

@Mouli Next year is the fresh reboot of all IPL teams. Just as day 1 of IPL. So looking forward to 2018 auctions.

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logic

Feb 20, 2017 04:50pm

Sign in | Create a Rediffmail account Rediff.com » Cricket » Afghanistan cricketers Nabi, Rashid create history at IPL Auction Afghanistan cricketers Nabi, Rashid create history at IPL Auction ShareComment To get such articles in your inbox Text size: A A A February 20, 2017 16:31 IST Rashid Khan was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping Rs. 4 crore, who also bought his Afghanistan team mate Mohammad Nabi for Rs. 30 lakh. Rashid Khan IMAGE: Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images Afghanistan cricket broke a new barrier when Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became the first from the war-torn nation to be picked in the Indian Premier League Player's Auction, in Bengaluru, on Monday. Both Nabi and Khan players were bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad, for Rs 30 lakh and Rs four crore respectively after five cricketers from Afghanistan were included in the auction for the first time.

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charlie papa

Feb 21, 2017 02:56pm

Hey... hurrah.... we got afghan players, bangla players, sri lankan players.... soon we will also have nepalese players.... long live IPL....the best T20 league in the world

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