After the ball tampering case involving, the Australian captain Steve Smith in the 3rd test match played at Cape Town which Australia lost by a massive 322 runs, Rajasthan Royals Steve Smith decided to step down from captaincy. Rahane has been appointed as the captain for the 11th edition of IPL starting from 7th April.
Steve Smith was appointed as the captain before the start of IPL 11. With the ball tampering including, Smith Rajasthan Royals decided to remove Australian captain from the captaincy of Rajasthan Royals franchise. Rajasthan Royals are coming back to IPL after serving a two-year ban regarding match-fixing spot.
According to co-owner of Rajasthan Royals Manoj Badle regarding the issue, he said the “game is bigger than an individual and we hold this thought to our heart”. Rahane has captained India for one test match against Australia in the home test series last year. Under his captaincy, the Indian team won that match at Dharamshala and also won the series 2-1.
Rahane has played for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL for quite long time and has the ability to do a great job while leading the franchise in the upcoming season.
Executive chairman of Rajasthan Royals team Ranjit Barthakur said welcoming Ajiyanka Rahane as the captain, “Ajinkya Rahane has stepped up as a leader whenever he has been given the opportunity, be it for Team India or at Rajasthan Royals. We consider him the right candidate to lead the side this crucial season when the team is coming back to the IPL after two years. We wish him all the best.”
Rajasthan Royals appoint @ajinkyarahane88 as the captain for #IPL2018
“The game is bigger than any individual and we hold this thought close to our heart.”- Manoj Badale , the co-owner of Rajasthan Royals
Read more: https://t.co/qBQbgUFb2u pic.twitter.com/iy3sMVWlc1
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) March 26, 2018
Rajasthan Royals will start the IPL 2018 edition season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 9th April at Hyderabad while they play their first home game against Delhi Daredevils at Jaipur. The franchise has Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler who can change the course of the match with their skills.
It will be interesting to see how Rahane cops on captaincy pressure and how he lead the team to success.