We hadn’t won a couple of games, and the owner at the time made the decision to change the captain. Faf du Plessis recalled the shock surrounding MS Dhoni ‘s removal as Rising Pune Supergiants captain after the 2016 IPL season, saying Steve Smith handled the difficult situation well and led the team to the final in his first season as skipper. “MS Dhoni was removed as captain of Rising Pune Supergiants after the end of the 2016 IPL season, and that’s the biggest move you can make in a tournament of that stature.
Speaking on Cricinfo’s show Cricketers on Cricketers, the former South Africa skipper said the decision to replace Dhoni, one of the most successful captains in the tournament’s history, left everyone surprised. Everyone was shocked after that call,” du Plessis said.
Smith led the team to the final, and we lost that final, which we should have won. “It was tough having MS Dhoni as your number two there, especially after he’d just been removed as captain. “Winning that final would have made Smith an IPL-winning captain in just one season of captaincy. “As captain, so much of your time goes into things away from your own game.
Because you need to get this much work done to feel ready to go, but you’ve still got to worry about everybody else.”, and then getting the amount of work he wanted done put extra pressure on him mentally,. Reflecting on Smith’s return to international cricket after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, Finch said the absence of captaincy allowed him to focus more fully on his own game.
Du Plessis said Smith faced a particularly challenging situation, with Dhoni continuing to be part of the team after losing the captaincy. We were that close,” he said. That says a lot about him.
