Rising Pune Supergiants
Prediction: Play-offs
New kids on the block, RPS splurged money on buying English all-rounder Ben Stokes and then earned the ire of many fans by sacking MS Dhoni as captain.
They have taken big risks and only time will tell whether it pays off. The team is power packed in the batting department with highly dependable batsmen like Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane and skipper Smith in the line-up.
MSD is simply one of the greatest limited overs batsman of all time and would be pivotal to the success of the team. Stokes is truly a box-office player as a batsman but has also become a canny bowler in these conditions.
Ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s absence from the league will be a major blow for the team but Smith will hope that he has enough quality players at his disposal to make up for the loss.
Imran Tahir, who has been very successful in last couple of years, will be a vital player in Ashwin’s absence.
Aussie Adam Zampa is a good back up option in the spin department.
There are plenty of successful players from domestic cricket like Manoj Tiwary, Ishwar Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat and Ashok Dinda. These men will have to provide good support to the big guns. Aussies Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh could turn out to be the x-factors in the team.
