New IPL Franchisee Pune Supergiants Find Captain in MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team India captain in the limited overs format has been named skipper of the new Rising Pune Supergiants IPL franchisee that is owned by Sanjiv Goenka.

While unveiling Dhoni as captain as well as the logo of the team, principal owner Sanjiv Goenka mentioned the qualities that made him an ideal skipper. He has been a phenomenal leader for the country and has a great international as well as domestic track record making him the perfect person to lead the franchise.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni though has been named as captain for the 2016 season only as the team looks to create its own position in the tournament and establish itself as a worthy contender. This should not be too hard for them as they have a fantastic line up of T20 exponents. These include Faf Du Plessis and R. Ashwin both of whom are regarded as top batsman and bowler in the format respectively. The team also has Ajinkya Rahane who seems to have hit a purple patch and much will be expected of these players.

Goenka also made it clear that Sourav Ganguly would not have any part to play with the team and that their partnership in the ISL team Atletico de Kolkata would not mean that he would have a role to play with the Pune franchisee as well. There is an allegation of conflict of interest as Ganguly also serves as member of the IPL Governing Council in addition to being one of the co owners of the Kolkata based football club with Goenka.

The team also announced Raghu Iyer as CEO. Iyer was earlier with the Rajasthan Royals and would be joining the Pune team as their sports vertical CEO.