It was the last over. The Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) needed 13 runs to get off to a winning start in the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League.
It was an easy task for the Pune-based franchise considering the fact that MS Dhoni was out in the middle. The stage was set for the 35-year old to finish off the match in style.
However, it was his partner and the newly-appointed skipper Steve Smith who did ‘an MS Dhoni‘ instead of the former India skipper. Dhoni faced the first and third balls of the over but could only manage a single on both the occasions bringing down the equation to 10 runs from the last three balls. Smith took the onus on himself from thereon and hit two consecutive sixes to seal the match for his team.
Nine out of ten times, people expect Dhoni to finish off matches like these but it was not his day. But his team nevertheless managed to start their campaign on a brilliant note and at the end of the day, it is of utmost importance.
However, the win turned a little bit sour for the Dhoni fans when Harsh Goenka, the chairman of RPG Enterprises and the brother of Sanjiv Goenka — the owner of the franchise, took a sly dig at the World Cup-winning skipper.
It must be remembered that RPS, which somehow managed to avoid the wooden spoon in the last edition, faced widespread criticism for replacing Dhoni with Smith as the captain for the ongoing edition. The owners had said they wanted to give the team a new look and hence sacked the man who is one of the most successful skippers in the history of the tournament. As expected, their decision did not go down too well with the fans as well as experts and they were severely criticised for their decision.
But as soon as Smith hit the winning runs, Harsh Goenka took to Twitter to prove that the decision to replace Dhoni with Smith was a correct one.

But ridiculing one of India’s most beloved cricketers in favour of a player whose antics during the Border-Gavaskar earlier this year had made him a public enemy was never a good idea for Goenka and as expected, he was roasted for his controversial tweet which was later deleted.
Here are some of the reactions:
In your dreams… No batsman can overshadow Dhoni. Take him out your team and see the fan count.. maybe you will get to know the reality
— Vamsi Kaka (@vamsikaka) April 6, 2017
Dhoni team won 2 World Cups 2 ipl trophies 2 cl trophies and champions trophy as well.we don't talk abt it that doesn't change the fact ? pic.twitter.com/UXLJcXsZ4P
— rishu (@forever_rishu) April 6, 2017
You will instantly lose 80% of the supporters the day Dhoni leaves the team …btw you already lost 20% when you tweeted this!
— Drunk BATMAN (@Caped_Humor) April 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/10_Rashmi/status/850050571637751808
Harsh Goenka has completely lost it. Steve Smith has played a gem of an innings,no point of abusing him. Abuse Harsh Goenka. #RespectDhoni
— Nisarg Mistry (@nisarg1999) April 6, 2017
@vikramkelkar I think Mr. Goenka missed the last ball of 19th over…Just see the replay and your respect for @msdhoni will get up
— Naresh Rathi (@NareshLalita) April 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/vabskrishna/status/850056163374878722
https://twitter.com/HariMsd48/status/850055434069090304