Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni will not be at the helm of Rising Pune Supergiants when the 2017 edition of the IPL gets underway in April.
AFP
There have been conflicting reports and statements over the affair with the semantics of whether Dhoni has been sacked or stepped down becoming unclear.
According to ANI, Dhoni himself requested the team management to step him down from the post of skipper. Steve Smith will take charge in his place.
BCCI
Last season Pune won just 5 out of 14 games and finished 7th.
ˇ°We have opted for Steve Smith as captain of RPS for the forthcoming IPL season,ˇ± RPS owner Sanjeev Goenka told India Today.?
BCCI
ˇ°Despite having a good side the team did not get expected results last year. Last year we failed. We could have done much better,ˇ± he added.
Dhoni was in charge of the Chennai Super Kings till 2015 when the team was suspended due to the spot-fixing scandal. He has won two IPL titles in 2010 and 2011 along with two CLT20s in 2010 and 2014.