The Rising Pune Supergiant franchise was owned byRP-Sanjiv Goenka Group controlled bySanjiv Goenka.[4] The team name was announced (asPune Supergiants) on 18 January 2016 by Goenka inKolkata and Raghu Iyer was appointed CEO.[5] The owners changed the team name toRising Pune Supergiant on 26 March 2017.[6] The team lost the2017 IPL Final toMumbai Indians by 1 run, which was the team's last game in the IPL.[7][8]
However, the same owner bought another franchiseLucknow Super Giants in February 2022. It is now among the 10 teams of the league and take part in it.[9]
Home ground
The Rising Pune Supergiant's home ground was theMaharashtra Cricket Association Stadium inPune. However, controversies arose over holding2016 IPL games in Maharashtra due to water usage of the cricket stadiums during severe drought and theBombay High Court ordered all matches in May to be shifted out of the state.[10] On 15 April 2016, it was reported that the Rising Pune Supergiants were considering theACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium inVishakhapatnam as an alternate home ground.[11]
The Rising Pune Supergiant made an excellent start to the season, convincingly winning their first game against the defending champions,Mumbai Indians, by 9 wickets.[14] However, they went on to lose their next four games - against theGujarat Lions,Kings XI Punjab,Royal Challengers Bangalore and theKolkata Knight Riders.[15][16][17][18] The inclusion ofAshok Dinda, in their 6th game of the season, provided a brief inspiration as the Supergiants beat theSunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs.[19] They lost the next two games - against theGujarat Lions and theMumbai Indians - at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.[20][21] The Supergiants were also briefly bolstered by the arrival of Australian batsmenUsman Khawaja andGeorge Bailey against theDelhi Daredevils at theFeroz Shah Kotla and went on to win the game by 7 wickets.[22][23] Pune's last game of the season was againstKings XI Punjab, with the loser finishing at the bottom of the points table. RPS was struggling to chase down a total of 172 despite a good start from the openers and they kept losing wickets at constant intervals. RPS needed 23 runs from the last over which was bowled byAxar Patel with captainMS Dhoni on the crease. After a wide, four, six and two dot balls, RPS were left requiring 12 runs from the last two balls. It seemed the game was over but Dhoni hit two sixes off the last two balls. This win ensured RPS didn't finish at the bottom of the points table.[24] At the end of the 2016 IPL, the Supergiants won only 5 games out of 14, and won only 2 of their 7 home games - 4 at the MCA Stadium in Pune and 3 at their new home ground, theACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium inVishakhapatnam. They finished at seventh place in the IPL points table.[25][26]
After the auction, PuneMS Dhoni as captain andSteve Smith was appointed captain barely months before the start of the 2017 season.[27] The franchise then changed their name to Rising Pune Supergiant, removing the 's', on 26 March 2017.[28]Washington Sundar replacedRavichandran Ashwin who was ruled out of the tournament with a sports hernia.[29] RPS boughtBen Stokes for ₹14.5 Crore at the auction, making him the most expensive overseas player in the history of IPL at the time (this record was later broken when his own franchise Lucknow Super Giants brought Rishabh Pant for 27 Crores in the 2024 IPL Player Auction).[30]Imran Tahir was recruited by RPS to replaceMitchell Marsh, who was once again ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury.[31] This decision proved to be extremely decisive, as Imran Tahir went on to take 18 wickets in 12 games for RPS before leaving for his national team, along withFaf du Plessis.
RPS once again got off to a great start inIPL 2017 by beating theMumbai Indians by 7 wickets in their first game.[32] However, losses againstKings XI Punjab,Delhi Daredevils andGujarat Lions followed and it seemed like Pune were repeating what took place last year.[33][34][35] However, results picked up and RPS won 7 out of their next 8 games, all of them by close margins, with the top performers beingRahul Tripathi,Jaydev Unadkat,Ben Stokes,MS Dhoni andImran Tahir. But a 6-day gap left them rusty and RPS lost to Delhi Daredevils by 7 runs,[36] forcing them to win their last game vs Punjab to qualify. In their do-or-die game vs Punjab, RPS skittled them out for 73 and won comfortably by 9 wickets, thus finishing in second place with 18 points and qualifying for the play-offs.[37][38]
RPS faced the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 at theWankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with a win securing them a spot in the final. RPS batted first and posted a slightly below-par total of 162–4, with 41 runs coming from the last two overs, thanks to well-paced innings fromManoj Tiwary andAjinkya Rahane and a late surge fromMS Dhoni.Washington Sundar ripped apart the middle order of the Indians and finished with career best figures of 3–16 in 4 overs.Shardul Thakur andJaydev Unadkat chipped in as Pune beat the Mumbai Indians comfortably by 20 runs.[39]
RPS faced the Mumbai Indians for the fourth time in the season, in the final atHyderabad. This was Rising Pune Supergiant's last game in the IPL. RPS had a psychological edge over Mumbai, considering RPS had beaten them on all three meetings in the season.Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first.Jaydev Unadkat andAdam Zampa took key wickets as Mumbai crumbled to 79-7 but a late surge fromKrunal Pandya meant that Mumbai finished with a slightly below par score of 129–8. RPS looked comfortable after the powerplay but over-cautious batting cost them dearly.Ajinkya Rahane scored runs easily but captainSteve Smith struggled and things took a turn when Rahane got out for 44.MS Dhoni arrived but was quickly removed for 10 and Pune were left requiring 11 runs from the last over with Smith andManoj Tiwary at the crease. Tiwary hit a four on the first ball offMitchell Johnson's bowling and RPS looked to have the trophy in the bag. But Smith and Tiwary got out off consecutive deliveries which left RPS requiring 7 runs from 3 balls. A single fromWashington Sundar and a double fromDaniel Christian meant RPS required 4 runs from the last ball. Unfortunately, RPS could only complete two runs before Sundar was run out. Thus, Mumbai Indians won by 1 run to get their 3rd IPL title.[40][41]
