Amongst the two new IPL sides in the fray this year, Rising Pune Supergiants is the subject of much curiosity amongst the cricket fans and pundits alike. This team has already made big news by acquiring the current India (T20) and former Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni in its ranks.
Let us have a detailed look at this team, what players it lapped up during the 2016 players draft and the recently held IPL auctions, and every other info related to this new team.
The Rising Pune Supergiants Squad
The Rising Pune Supergiants is a newly formed Pune-based franchise. It will play in the Indian Premier League for two seasons only, starting from 2016. The team will serve as a replacement for one of the two suspended IPL sides, Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals.
It is the second team from Maharashtra which will be participating in the IPL this year, the other one being the IPL defending champions, the Mumbai Indians.
The Rising Pune Supergiants is owned by Sanjiv Goenka, who is also the owner of the New Rising and the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. In an interview with Business Standard, Goenka commented that “ No funds from any listed company would be used for the cricket venture and the franchise makes business sense, as it gives branding opportunity to group companies.”
During the 2016 players draft, this team picked up MS Dhoni, Ajinkiya Rahane, and Ravichandran Ashwin, along with a couple of big foreign names in Steve Smith and Faf Du Plessis. It also appointed MS Dhoni as its captain and Stephen Fleming as the coach of the side.
In the IPL auctions held on 6th Feb, this team succeeded in getting a lot of intelligent buys and was praised for their choices. It lapped up quite a few good Indian and foreign players on its side.
Indian Contingent:
Some of the prominent Indian players picked in the auctions include Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ashok Dinda.
Ankush Bains (Wicket Keeper), Jaydev Shah (All-Rounder) Shadab Jakati (All-Rounder), Pravin Tambe (Bowler), Pradeep Sangwan (All-Rounder), Shivil Kaushik (Bowler), Akashdeep Nath (All-Rounder ), Sarabjit Ladda (Bowler), Umang Sharma (Batsman), Paras Dogra (Batsman).
Foreign Contingent:
The foreign names which this team picked up in the IPL auctions include Kevin Pieterson, Mitchell Marsh, Thisara Perera, Scot Boland and Adam Zampa. These are the overseas picks for the team, apart from the two foreign players already picked up in the players’ draft.
Rising Pune Supergiants Logo
The logo of the side contains a golden cricket ball, surrounded by a pair of wings on the two sides. The name of the side is also mentioned on the top and bottom of the logo.
The logo of the team also features part of the business group's logo and is designed using the corporate group's colors. The company has also indicated that the players' shirts may also use the same colors as the RP-SG group logo.
Rising Pune Supergiants Jersey
The Rising Pune Supergiants jersey has multiple colours. As is with the case with the team logo, there is a lot of purple on it.
What impact may this team make in IPL 2016?
The biggest X-factors for this team are the two big Indian names in MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin. MS Dhoni’s captaincy for CSK team has won him many laurels, and he will be again key for this new side.
Ashwin too has been in the peak form of his life in the last year or so. Their overseas bigwigs, Kevin Petersen and Steve Smith are also very handy in the T 20 format.
The side seems to have all its bases covered, and is already being seen by many to be a title contender. Cricket fans from Pune will surely be hoping that their side does them proud this time in the IPL and come back with the trophy.
We wish this new team all the very best for this upcoming IPL season!
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