Rising Pune Supergiant (often abbreviated as RPS) was a franchise
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
team based in
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
,
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
, that played in the
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...
in
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
and as a finalist in
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
. It was the second team representing
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
after
Pune Warriors India. The team, along with
Gujarat Lions, featured as two-season replacements for
Chennai Super Kings and
Rajasthan Royals, who were suspended due to their involvement in
illegal betting by their respective owners. This team was disbanded after
Chennai Super Kings returned to the IPL in
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
.
The Rising Pune Supergiant franchise was owned by
RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group controlled by
Sanjiv Goenka.
The team name was announced (as ''Pune Supergiants'') on 18 January 2016 by Goenka in
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
and Raghu Iyer was appointed CEO.
The owners changed the team name to ''Rising Pune Supergiant'' on 26 March 2017.
The team lost the
2017 IPL Final to
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...
by 1 run, which was the team's last game in the IPL.
However, the same owner bought another franchise
Lucknow Super Giants in February 2022. It is now among the 10 teams of the league and take part in it.
Home ground
The Rising Pune Supergiant's home ground was the
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
. However, controversies arose over holding
2016 IPL games in Maharashtra due to water usage of the cricket stadiums during severe drought and the
Bombay High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...
ordered all matches in May to be shifted out of the state. On 15 April 2016, it was reported that the Rising Pune Supergiants were considering the
ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in
Vishakhapatnam as an alternate home ground.
Seasons
Indian Premier League
Sponsors and partners
Results summary
2016 season
The Rising Pune Supergiant made an excellent start to the season, convincingly winning their first game against the defending champions,
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...
, by 9 wickets. However, they went on to lose their next four games - against the
Gujarat Lions,
Kings XI Punjab,
Royal Challengers Bangalore and the
Kolkata Knight Riders. The inclusion of
Ashok Dinda, in their 6th game of the season, provided a brief inspiration as the Supergiants beat the
Sunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs. They lost the next two games - against the
Gujarat Lions and the
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...
- at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The Supergiants were also briefly bolstered by the arrival of Australian batsmen
Usman Khawaja and
George Bailey against the
Delhi Daredevils at the
Feroz Shah Kotla and went on to win the game by 7 wickets. Pune's last game of the season was against
Kings 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 by
Axar Patel with captain
MS 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. 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, the
ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in
Vishakhapatnam. They finished at seventh place in the IPL points table.
2017 season
After the auction, Pune axed
MS Dhoni as captain and
Steve Smith was appointed captain barely months before the start of the 2017 season.
The franchise then changed their name to Rising Pune Supergiant, removing the 's', on 26 March 2017.
Washington Sundar replaced
Ravichandran Ashwin who was ruled out of the tournament with a sports hernia. RPS bought
Ben 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 Kolkata Knight Riders bought Australian pacer Mitchell Starc for ₹24.75 Crore in the 2024 IPL Player Auction).
Imran Tahir was recruited by RPS to replace
Mitchell Marsh, who was once again ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury. 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 with
Faf du Plessis
François "Faf" du Plessis ( ; born 13 July 1984) is a South African professional cricketer and former captain of the South Africa national cricket team. He is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and among the best all-format ...
.
RPS once again got off to a great start in
IPL 2017 by beating the
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...
by 7 wickets in their first game. However, losses against
Kings XI Punjab,
Delhi Daredevils and
Gujarat Lions followed and it seemed like Pune were repeating what took place last year. However, results picked up and RPS won 7 out of their next 8 games, all of them by close margins, with the top performers being
Rahul Tripathi,
Jaydev Unadkat,
Ben Stokes,
MS Dhoni and
Imran Tahir. But a 6-day gap left them rusty and RPS lost to Delhi Daredevils by 7 runs, 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.
RPS faced the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 at the
Wankhede 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 from
Manoj Tiwary and
Ajinkya Rahane and a late surge from
MS 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 and
Jaydev Unadkat chipped in as Pune beat the Mumbai Indians comfortably by 20 runs.
RPS faced the Mumbai Indians for the fourth time in the season, in the final at
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
. 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 and
Adam Zampa took key wickets as Mumbai crumbled to 79-7 but a late surge from
Krunal 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 captain
Steve 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 and
Manoj Tiwary at the crease. Tiwary hit a four on the first ball off
Mitchell 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 from
Washington Sundar and a double from
Daniel 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.
Performance summary
Indian Premier League
Records
Most runs
Most wickets
See also
*
Lucknow Super Giants
References
{{RPG Group
Indian Premier League teams
Cricket in Maharashtra
Cricket in Pune
Sports clubs and teams in India
Cricket clubs established in 2016
2016 establishments in Maharashtra
Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 2017
RPSG Group