Before he was making huge decisions for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), owner Sanjiv Goenka had ruffled a lot of feathers when he removed MS Dhoni as the Rising Pune Supergiants' captain before the IPL 2017 season.
The Pune franchise had played in the IPL 2016 tournament under MS Dhoni’s captaincy but failed to qualify for the playoffs, resulting in Sanjiv Goenka controversially removing Dhoni as captain and handing over the leadership duties to Steve Smith.
The Pune team did very well under Steve Smith and qualified for the final in IPL 2017, losing by one run to the Mumbai Indians in the summit clash.
Faf du Plessis had played for the Pune franchise in the two IPL seasons it was in action and stated that the decision to replace Dhoni, one of the most successful captains in the tournament's history, left everyone surprised.
"MS Dhoni was removed as captain of Rising Pune Supergiants after the end of the 2016 IPL season, and that's the biggest move you can make in a tournament of that stature. We hadn't won a couple of games, and the owner at the time made the decision to change the captain. Everyone was shocked after that call," du Plessis said on Cricinfo's show Cricketers on Cricketers.
Du Plessis remarked that Smith was in a notably difficult position, given that Dhoni remained with the team after being stripped of the captaincy.
"MS Dhoni as captain was gone, and Steve Smith was the new captain. That was pretty early on in his leadership career. He wasn't experienced, but he did a good job. It was tough having MS Dhoni as your number two there, especially after he'd just been removed as captain.
Smith led the team to the final, and we lost that final, which we should have won. We were that close. Winning that final would have made Smith an IPL-winning captain in just one season of captaincy. That says a lot about him," he said.
Former Australia opener Aaron Finch recalled Smith's transformation from a leg-spin all-rounder into one of the finest batters in the world.
"Steve Smith went from being touted as Shane Warne's replacement, starting at eight in the batting order, bowling a few overs of leg spin, and getting the odd runs as the finisher. Then something changed overnight. He turned into this absolute gun of a batter who took the world by storm. He was always a handsy (good with his wrists) player with big movements, moving his feet a lot. Then he simplified that, and everything clicked,” Finch said on the same show.
Steve Smith later captained the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League but last played in the tournament in IPL 2021 for Delhi Capitals.
