Overview

THE RISING PUNE SUPERGIANT suffered from a series of injuries to their key players, owing to which had to finish at the seventh position in the points table. Even before the 2017 auction started, the RPS management took the captaincy from MS Dhoni and gave it to the Aussie skipper Steve Smith. Moreover, at the auction, went hammer and tongs to rope in English all-rounder Ben Stokes. While Pune wanted an impact player in their line-up, they exhausted all the budget and were forced to settle for some mediocre bowlers. While Mitch Marsh's withdrawal could have been used as a blessing in disguise, RPS instead of filling up their undercooked pace department went for South African leggie Imran Tahir as a replacement. Tahir may be the world's best, but to pick him with Aussie leggie Adam Zampa in the squad already, it has made little sense. While Pune might be playing their last season, they would still want to get the early momentum towards the playoffs. They will begin their campaign against the Mumbai Indians on April 6th. 

Strength

Pune will bank on the class and experience of Adam Zampa and R Ashwin going ahead. Both have handsome records in the T20 tournament and should be bowling in tandem. If both spinners can get into their groove early, Pune will immensely benefit from their eight overs. Having great leaders in Smith, Dhoni and Faf du will also help. Although Smith will lead them, the experience of the Dhoni and Faf will certainly be a big plus for the Pune franchise. Impact player Ben Stokes' presence will be huge. We all know how the English all-rounder can win games with both bat and ball. With Stokes and Dhoni in the middle order, acceleration shouldn't be an issue. 

Weakness

Although Pune have quality spinners, the dearth of quality in the pace department will hurt them. There is little to suggest that the inexperienced line-up of Jaydev Unadkat, Deepak Chahar, Ishwar Pandey and Ashok Dinda will rise to the occasion and get wickets. It is highly unlikely that they will pick wickets at regular intervals and will also struggle in containing the runs in the death overs. Pune have made a blunder in this department and although they have rookie Lockie Ferguson in their ranks, the Kiwi is known to concede runs. Pune might get the runs on the board, but given their spineless pace attack, they are likely to struggle in defending it.

Dhoni factor

It's no secret that Dhoni has been the best captain in the IPL thus far. Asking him to step down from the helm might actually trigger an extreme response from the wicket-keeper batsman. Given his reputation, the 35-year-old might be determined to prove a point to the owners by going berserk in the 10th edition. The additional pressure of captaincy too might help him release all the extra nerves and pressure. However, Dhoni could also take the other route by just going through the motions, knowing he will handsomely return to CSK, regardless of the outcome in this edition. How will Dhoni fare then? Only time will tell.  

TFG Verdict

RPS might win some games thanks to the explosive batting of Dhoni or all-round heroics of Stokes. On some days, Ashwin and Zampa too might spin the opposition out. That said, to win the tournament or even reach the playoffs, having a potent pace attack is the key. Unfortunately for Pune, they don't have one. Eventually , hey will get exposed and don't be surprised to see them struggling in the bottom half of the points table. 

Team: Steve Smith (Captain), Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Marsh, Adam Zampa, Usman Khawaja,Ben Stokes, Daniel Christian, Lockie Ferguson, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Jaskaran Singh, Baba Aparajith, Deepak Chahar, Mayank Agarwal, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Milind Tandon, Rahul Ajay Tripathi.

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