• Home
  • Player Stories
  • When Sanjiv Goenka Sacked Ms Dhoni As Rpsg Captain And Appointed Steve Smith Instead

When Sanjiv Goenka Sacked MS Dhoni As RPSG Captain And Appointed Steve Smith Instead

Steve Smith was appointed as RPS captain sacking Dhoni in 2017 IPL (X)Steve Smith was appointed as RPS captain sacking Dhoni in 2017 IPL (X)

Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), made headlines yesterday after he was captured in a heated exchange with LSG captain KL Rahul following the team's loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of Lucknow Super Giants, has made headlines before. He was previously the owner of Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), which participated in the IPL during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

 RPS, based in Pune, was introduced as a replacement franchise when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were banned from the IPL. The other replacement team during those seasons was Gujarat Lions (GL).

RPS and GL drafted players from CSK and RR, respectively, with MS Dhoni captaining RPS and Suresh Raina leading GL. 

However, despite Dhoni's captaincy, RPS finished in 7th place in the table in 2016 season, only ahead of Kings XI Punjab while GL finished the table as leaders.

Dhoni sacked by Sanjiv Goenka

For the 2017 season, RPS replaced MS Dhoni with Steve Smith as captain. However, the decision stirred controversy. 

Harsh Goenka, the brother of Sanjiv Goenka, tweeted a an infamous tweet after RPS defeated Mumbai Indians in a game, seemingly mocking MS Dhoni's captaincy. 


In response, Sakshi Dhoni, MS Dhoni's wife, tweeted a sharp reply a couple of days later quoting 'Karma'.


Despite defeating Mumbai Indians three times during the 2017 season, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) faced a heartbreaking loss in the crucial final. They were defeated by Mumbai Indians by just 1 run in the final of the 2017 IPL season.

But after being sacked by Sanjiv Goenka, MS Dhoni went on to win the IPL three times with Chennai Super Kings.