Home Sports Cricket IPL 2016 MS Dhoni Named as “Rising Pune Supergiant”

Kolkata: The Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be named Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) with India’s limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni captaining the side, its owner announced on Monday. “Also, given his track record as a captain as well as a player in both domestic and global arenas, we are hoping that the team will do well under his guidance”, said Goenka.

When asked about Dhoni’s name as a skipper, he said, “Right now the focus is only on 2016 and the team building”. However, Goenka believed that too many leaders won’t cause “friction”.

Refusing to comment on Dhoni being under fire over India’s poor performance in the ongoing One-Day series in Australia, Goenka asserted the existence of three captains in his squad will not impact the harmony of the team. Along with the wicketkeeper batsman they also drafted his former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) teammate’s Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and South African T20I skipper Faf du Plessis. “The likes of MS, Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis are seasoned leaders”.

Kolkata: To bring in professional management, the R.P.-Sanjiv Goenka group has appointed the former head of Rajasthan Royals cricket team, Raghu Iyer, as chief executive officer of its fledgling sports business.

Goenka, who has a controlling stake in ATK, wants the football franchise to have the same governance standard as his IPL team.

“I have nothing to say in this matter”, is what Goenka offered when media persons sought his view over the issue. “It’s for the ombudsman to decide”, said Goenka when queried about a potential conflict of interest as far as Ganguly was concerned.

In another announcement, Raghu Iyer was named CEO for the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group’s sports vertical.