IPL team profile: Rising Pune Supergiants

Indian Premier League

Team: Rising Pune Supergiants

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Coach: Stephen Fleming

IPL Best: N/A

Overview: One of two new entries into this season's IPL, the Rising Pune Supergiants come into the competition with a well balanced team and they must surely be considered as genuine contenders.

Under the leadership of head coach Stephen Fleming and captain MS Dhoni and with the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Steven Smith, Faf du Plessis and Ravichandran Ashwin all in the mix, all the ingredients are there for a successful debut season.

Key Batsman: With a team packed with quality batsman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a player who has been there and done that and he has several t-shirts to show for it along with a few trophies.

Dhoni must go down as one of the most reliable and dependable of batsmen in the game and his experience and temperament is likely to prove pivotal to the Supergiants cause.

Key Bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin will certainly play a key role in the Supergiants attack. Undoubtedly one of the finest bowlers around Ashwin is likely to prove a difficult proposition for most opposing batsmen on the traditionally slow and dusty Indian tracks.

Likely Benchwarmer: Australian Peter Handscomb is likely to pick up a few splinters from the bench as he is essentially the backup wicketkeeper to captain MS Dhoni.

Barring any injury concerns to the captain, Handscomb is likely to remain on the sidelines and eager for any opportunity for game time in what will be his first season in the IPL.

They Said: Coach Stephen Fleming: "We are realistic about how hard it is to win the IPL but we are certainly not here to make up the numbers. We have got the desire to win the IPL in our first year and make a statement."

Squad: MS Dhoni (c, wk), Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Scott Boland, Deepak Chahar, Ashok Dinda, Francois du Plessis, Peter Handscomb (wk), Jaskaran Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Albie Morkel, Ishwar Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, Kevin Pietersen, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Steven Smith, Saurabh Tiwary, Adam Zampa.

Fixtures: Saturday April 9th vs Mumbai Indians
Thursday April 14th vs Gujarat Lions
Sunday 17th April vs Kings XI Punjab
Friday 22nd April vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Sunday 24th April vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Tuesday 26th April vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Friday 29th April vs Gujarat Lions
Sunday 1st May vs Mumbai Indians
Thursday 5th May vs Delhi Daredevils
Saturday 7th May vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Tuesday 10th May vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Saturday 14th May vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Tuesday 17th May vs Delhi Daredevils
Saturday 21st May vs Kings XI Punjab

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