Rising Pune Supergiant playing 11 from Ben Stokes' IPL debut - where are they now?

Ben Stokes celebrated his 33rd birthday today (June 4). The England Test skipper is one of the best all-rounders in world cricket right now. He seems to be focusing more on Test cricket these days, but in the initial days of his cricketing career, he participated in all three formats regularly and even played in the IPL.

While Ben Stokes won an IPL trophy with the Chennai Super Kings and scored multiple centuries for the Rajasthan Royals, his debut match in the league was for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant team. Stokes started his career against Mumbai Indians on April 6, 2017, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

MI scored 184/8 in that game, and in reply, RPS reached 187/3 in 19.5 overs. In this listicle, will look at Pune's playing XI from that match and where those players are now.

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Openers - Ajinkya Rahane and Mayank Agarwal

Ajinkya Rahane opened the batting with Mayank Agarwal that night at the MCA Stadium. Rahane played a match-winning knock of 60 runs from 34 deliveries, hitting six fours and three maximums for the Rising Pune Supergiant. Meanwhile, Agarwal got out to Mitchell McClenaghan after scoring only six runs.

Both Rahane and Agarwal continue to be active in domestic cricket and IPL. Rahane turned up for the Chennai Super Kings this year, whereas Agarwal represented the SunRisers Hyderabad.

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Middle Order - Steve Smith (c), Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia and Deepak Chahar

Steve Smith captained the Rising Pune Supergiant for the first time in this match. Ben Stokes played in the IPL for the first time, and MS Dhoni did not feature in the playing XI as captain for the first time in his IPL career as well.

Smith played a captain's knock of 84 runs from 54 deliveries at the MCA Stadium. His unbeaten half-century ensured that RPS won by seven wickets. Ben Stokes scalped Kieron Pollard's wicket and followed it up with a 14-ball 21. Dhoni remained not out on 12 off 12.

Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia, and Deepak Chahar did not bat. Chahar returned with expensive figures of 0/21 in two overs, while Bhatia bowled an impressive spell of 2/14 in three overs.

Smith continues to play the longer formats for Australia. He worked as a commentator in IPL 2024 and is doing the same job at the ongoing T20 World Cup. Ben Stokes is England's Test captain. Dhoni is still active in IPL, where he shared the dressing room with Chahar at the Chennai Super Kings. Tiwary and Bhatia have retired.

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Bowlers - Adam Zampa, Imran Tahir and Ashok Dinda

RPS played with two overseas leg-spinners in that match against Mumbai Indians. The decision proved to be a masterstroke as Imran Tahir got rid of Parthiv Patel, Jos Buttler, and Rohit Sharma. Adam Zampa dismissed the dangerous Nitish Rana. Ashok Dinda leaked 57 runs in his four overs.

Zampa is Australia's lead leg-spinner now. He pulled out of his IPL 2024 stint with the Rajasthan Royals due to personal reasons. Imran Tahir does not play for South Africa now, but he is active in T20 leagues. Dinda has tried his luck in politics and also played in tournaments featuring retired cricketers.