RPSG owner Sanjiv Goenka is impressed with Steve Smith’s leadership

The owner of the Rising Pune Supergiant-Sanjiv Goenka- heaped praises on the captainship skills of current Australian captain Steve Smith, highlighting that the 27-year-old has exhibited great enthusiasm in his leadership. “Steve inspires me as a leader” he said.

“Steve has a huge amount of enthusiasm in his leadership style. He’s very engaged, he’s very involved. He’s very emotional about victory and I think he’s passionate about performance,” Goenka said.

Only a day before the Indian Premier League auctions held last month in Bengaluru, the Pune-outfit decided to replace MS Dhoni with Smith as their captain, causing both surprise and shock among fans. Many asked for a justification for the same. Replacing an Indian captain with an Australian counterpart didn’t go down well with Indian fans.

And a day after announcing Smith as the replacement, the team bought star England all-rounder Ben Stokes for a massive sum of Rs. 14.5 crores to become the highest paid player in the auction. The Pune outfit is one of the strongest in the upcoming IPL.

Goenka also added that Smith was actively involved in the team building process and was very clear about the kind of players he needed. Smith impressed these qualities in the RPSG owner.

Meanwhile, the Pune captain will be looking forward to lead his team to victory in the 3^rd of the 4 Test Border-Gavaskar trophy in Ranchi, and ensure that they retain the Trophy.

The right-hander struck a match-winning century on a square turner in Pune and will hope to put in an even better show on Thursday. A lot of pressure has mounted on the skipper after Virat Kohli alleged that he asked for help from the Australian dressing room to decide on DRS. This time around, all eyes will be on him when he is on the field.