IPL 10: New Rising Pune Supergiants captain Steve Smith welcomes 'big buy' Ben Stokes

New Delhi: While it was a widely accepted fact that England all-rounder Ben Stokes will be on top of franchises' wish list in the IPL 2017 auction, not many expected him to become the second highest IPL auction buy of all time with Rising Pune Supergiants spending as many as Rs. 14.5 crore for him.

The sought-after Englishman was welcomed by his IPL captain, Steve Smith – who took over the reigns just yesterday as the management decided to remove MS Dhoni from the position – on Twitter with a witty tweet.

Welcome to Pune @benstokes38 first round is on you! — Steve Smith (@stevesmith49) February 20, 2017

"Welcome to Pune @benstokes38 first round is on you!," Smith tweeted.

The Australian captain, who arrived in India a few days back for the upcoming Test series with India, had not expected that he will be making headlines much before the 1st match had even began.

The reason for him making news wasn't the right one, as fans bombarded him with hate tweets soon after hearing the franchise's decision to put him at helm of the team in place of Dhoni.

As far as Stokes is concerned, he has become the most expensive overseas player ever bought at an IPL auction, going for USD 2.16 million approx. and a lot will be expected from him by the team which finished second-bottom in the previous season.