Last Update on: May 3rd, 2020 at 05:14 pm
The Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) franchise was a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for two seasons. To their credit, only in their second season in the 2017 IPL, they reached the final of the lucrative tournament under the watchful eyes of Steve Smith. After their maiden season in 2016, MS Dhoni was axed from the captaincy role, to be replaced with the Australian youngster.
The 2017 IPL final turned out to be a disappointing night for the Pune franchise as they lost the summit clash by only a run to Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. In a low-scoring final, Mumbai Indians scored 129/8 after opting to bat, courtesy of a quick-fire cameo from all-rounder Krunal Pandya. In response, RPS came agonisingly close to get their hands on the trophy but lost out only by a whisker. Opener Ajinkya Rahane and skipper Smith had led his side from the front in the final.
The loss was hard to comprehend for a lot of the players from the Pune franchise, including the likes of top-order batsman Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary and Mayank Agarwal. In a piece for the Cricbuzz, Rahul Tripathi shared how veteran wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni consoled the team after the 2017 final loss.
Rahul Tripathi: We were in MS Dhoni’s room till 5-6 am
MS Dhoni has seen and overcome losses at bigger stages in his decorated career. But he likes to stay calm and composed regardless the situation. Being the senior most member of the franchise MS Dhoni said it’s ok, we lost, I know its difficult and shared his thoughts and experience with the fellow youngsters.
Rahul Tripathi also recalls sitting at Dhoni’s room till early morning as everyone had flights to catch. He also added, though the loss was hard to comprehend, there was a lot to learn from it.
“I remember after the game I was sitting in Mahi Bhai’s room. Dinda (Ashoke) bhai was there..Mayank (Agarwal) was there…Manoj Tiwary bhaiyya was there….a lot of people were coming in and going…we were sitting there quietly. He was like “it’s ok we lost it, I know it’s difficult.” He had discussions with us. We were sitting in his room until 5 or 6 in the morning. He was just sharing his thoughts and experiences. He was signing t-shirts,” Rahul Tripathi wrote.
“We were there until the morning just talking. Everyone had flights to catch. In fact someone had a flight in the morning at 6 so he left directly from there. We were all disappointed. It was such a close game. Being from Pune, playing for Pune and winning the IPL would have been a dream come true for me. I think it was difficult to miss it by such a small margin but there were a lot of things to learn,” he added.
In 2017, RPS had already beat Mumbai Indians thrice in the tournament, but lost out to the Rohit Sharma-led side in a match which mattered the most by a slender margin.
