Published: Feb 07, 2016, 01:44 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 07, 2016, 01:44 PM (IST)
Rising Pune Supergiants owner Sanjiv Goenka, was quite happy after his franchise made the right decisions for picking the right blend for his team. Former New Zealand cricketer and now coach for RPS Stephen Fleming, guided the franchise during the bid for players in Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions on Saturday. The new franchise, which had picked up MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis and R Ashwin through IPL draft, ahve got mixed all-rounders on it’s side after the auctions like Kevin Pietersen, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Mitchell Marsh, Thisara Perera apart from others. READ: Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) team in IPL 2016: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) remnants
“Our focus was on having a strong playing XI, and I think, we have that in place,” said Goenka who was not present for the auction, but guided the process from Kolkata, as reported on CricBuzz. “If you look at our squad, it is batting heavy with a lot of specialists in the line-up,” Goenka said. Asked how much homework his team had done before the auction, Goenka said, “We spent a lot of time discussing what we wanted. And I must thank Mahi (Dhoni) and Stephen for drawing up various permutations and combinations for every position in the line-up. Overall, I am quite happy with our squad.” READ: Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in IPL 2016: Know your team
Asked whether there was any particular player he would have liked to see in his side, Goenka revealed, “We were very keen to have Pawan Negi, but then, you can’t always have it your way in an open auction. We have a balanced squad and the good thing is all the players would be available for the entire tournament. It should work to our advantage.”
