All-star Supergiant seek winning formula

Likely first XI

Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith (capt), Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Shardul Thakur, Ankit Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Imran Tahir

Reserves

Batsmen - Usman Khawaja, B Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Manoj Tiwary

Bowlers - Ishwar Pandey, Saurabh Kumar, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Deepak Chahar, Jaydev Unadkat, Lockie Ferguson, Rahul Chahar

Allrounders - Dan Christian, Rahul Tripathi, Milind Tandon

Strengths

They have arguably the best batsman in the world, the best finisher, and the best allrounder. Smith, Dhoni and Stokes form the crux of a robust middle order that is capable of blitzing targets as well as accumulating scores. Then there is the legspinner Tahir, the current No. 1 bowler in T20 cricket, who was rather surprisingly overlooked at the auction in February. Zampa was the surprise package in IPL 2016, peeling off 12 wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 6.76, and he enters this season with an enhanced reputation after productive stints with the Australian team and Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL. He could even jostle Tahir out of the playing XI should Supergiant opt to play just one spinner.

Weaknesses

No less than six Supergiant players - du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Smith, Mitchell Marsh, M Ashwin and Deepak Chahar - suffered injuries in 2016 with all four overseas names pulling out midway through the last season. They have now lost R Ashwin and Marsh even before the start of this season. Sports hernia has stripped Supergiant of their only frontline offspinner while their two left-arm fingerspinners, Ankit and Saurabh, lack T20 experience - the latter is yet to play an IPL match. Supergiant's worries extend to their seam attack too. Thakur, who was acquired from Kings XI Punjab, might feel the aftereffects of a long domestic season as the IPL wears on: he bowled 417.3 overs across formats - the second-most by a seamer. Unadkat and Pandey are similar bowlers to RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, who were released from the squad.

Where they finished in 2016, and what's different this year?

Seventh. They were the first side to be knocked out last season.

For starters, the management has changed the team's name from Rising Pune Supergiants to Rising Pune Supergiant, and made Smith captain in place of Dhoni on the eve of the auction. Having released Thisara Perera, Albie Morkel and Irfan Pathan from the squad, Supergiant then splurged INR 14.5 crore (approximately USD 2.16 million) on Stokes, making him the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction. They also spent a crore on Victoria and Hobart Hurricanes allrounder Dan Christian, who might be thrust into the spotlight when Stokes takes up national duty. That Supergiant shelled out millions for just two players meant they could not bid more aggressively for fast bowlers like T Natarajan and Basil Thampi. As a result, the seam attack remains largely unchanged. The top order, though, has been bolstered by the acquisition of Agarwal from Delhi Daredevils.

What have their players been up to?

• Stokes was distraught after being hit for four successive sixes in that final in Kolkata last year, but a brutal fifty and the wicket of Virat Kohli, which helped England sew up a high-scoring thriller this year, came as a soothing balm. His hit-the-deck bustle challenged India in the limited-overs series before he showed innings-building skills while scoring a fifty against West Indies in Antigua.
• Christian had a fruitful BBL season with the Hurricanes, performing the dual role of taking wickets and curbing the run rate. He claimed nine wickets, including 5 for 14, the third-best figures in the history of the BBL. His batting wasn't as sparkly in the tournament, but when Christian hits the ball, it stays hit. Case in point: this 117m monster at - or out of - the Gabba in 2015. On the flip side, Christian has struggled in the IPL, managing only 341 runs in 22 innings for Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore at a strike rate of 116.78.
• Dhoni smashed a half-century in his most recent T20I, then led Jharkhand to the semi-final of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. He finished as his state's second-highest scorer with 330 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of nearly 100.

Overseas-player availability

Stokes will be available to the franchise for the entire group stage, before returning to England on May 14 to prepare for three ODIs against South Africa in late May that serve as a warm-up for the Champions Trophy. Tearaway quick Lockie Ferguson will be with Supergiant until May 10, before linking up with New Zealand for a tri-series against hosts Ireland and Bangladesh.

Home and away record in 2016

Supergiant fared equally badly both at home and on the road. They were swept clean at the MCA Stadium in Pune, before they won two out of three games in their second home in Visakhapatnam and avoided a bottom-place finish. They also won three away matches, all while chasing.

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