IPL: 5 overseas players who might never be released by their franchises

#4 Steve Smith

Steve Smith will continue to be the skipper of RR in 2020 as well

Steve Smith has been with the Rajasthan Royals since 2014. In 2016 and 2017 though, when Rajasthan Royals were suspended from the IPL, Smith played for the Rising Pune Supergiants.

In 2017, Smith captained the Pune side despite the presence of MS Dhoni. Under Smith, Pune finished runners-up. This made Royals retain Smith for their comeback season in 2018. He was also announced captain of the Royals in 2018.

However, in 2018, Smith got a one-year ban for ball-tampering and missed the IPL. This forced Royals to go with Rahane as their skipper.

After serving the ban, Smith made a comeback in the IPL in 2019. However, the Royals decided against making him the skipper and stayed with Rahane as their leader. But Rahane's bad form meant that Royals had to move back to Smith as their skipper towards the end of the 2019 season.

Overall, Smith had a pretty good comeback season as he made 319 runs in 12 matches. He is all set to captain the Royals in 2020 as well, and might even go on to play for the Royals till the very end of his IPL career.