Steve Smith loss adds to Supergiants woes

The omission of the potent run-getter Steve Smith from the rest of the IPL season adds to the woes suffered by an already depleted Rising Pune Supergiants side due to injuries.

Steve Smith has scored 270 runs in seven innings this season.

Steven Smith joined the prolonging list of pullouts due to an injury from the Rising Pune Supergiants squad as the >Australia captain has left the squad following a wrist injury . The franchise has signed up George Bailey, the former Australia Twenty20 and Kings XI Punjab skipper, for the remaining season. Despite this, the injury woes have left Supergiants in a deeper hole.

Smith wasn’t just Supergiants’ lone centurion in the Indian Premier League but also its second highest-run getter, with a tally of 270 runs from seven innings. He has thus become the fourth overseas cricketer for the IPL debutants to have been sidelined midway through the season after Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Marsh.

Bailey has been the second replacement player besides fellow Australian Usman Khawaja. It remains to be seen if either of them joins the squad in time ahead of Supergiants’ next game, against Delhi Daredevils on May 5.

Supergiants have so far managed just two wins from its eight matches, leaving the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team in danger of becoming the first team to be ruled out of the race for the Playoffs.