IPL 2017: Harsh Goenka turns into MS Dhoni's admirer, showers praise after match-winning knock
What’s the story?
MS Dhoni’s removal as captain of the Rising Pune Supergiant did not go down to well with his fans, just before the start of IPL 2017. The matter was further compounded when Harsh Goenka, brother of Sanjiv Goenka (the owner of the RPS franchise), pulled out a barrage of tweets, degrading the former India captain.
However, after a whirlwind knock that helped his team edge past the Mumbai Indians, Dhoni’s biggest critics turned into his fans, led by Harsh Goenka himself, who congratulated the 35-year-old and had words of praise reserved for him.
In case you didn’t know...
Before the start of IPL 2017, MS Dhoni’s axing as the captain of the Rising Pune Supergiant was met with a lot of hue and cry. One of the most successful skippers of the IPL, Dhoni’s removal from captaincy, after nine consecutive years of the IPL, left a bad taste in his fans mouth. To top it off, Harsh Goenka’s tweets had made him a subject of ridicule on Twitter.
The heart of the matter
Dhoni rolled back the years with a 26-ball 40 against the Mumbai Indians, smashing as many as five sixes that helped his team extract 41 runs in the last two overs, a knock that turned out to be the difference between the two sides eventually.
Harsh Goenka was all praise for Dhoni, expressing his happiness on Twitter with the following caption: "Explosive batting by Dhoni, deceitful bowling by Sundar and great captaincy by Smith takes #RPS to the #IPL finals".
Both the Goenka’s were seen giving a standing ovation to the right-hander, who had not been in the best of form in this edition, playing his first IPL season without the captaincy armband on him.
What’s next?
The Rising Pune Supergiant, in only their second season, have sealed a place in the finals, pushing away the ignominy of a seventh place finish in the last edition. They will now take the winner of the game between the Mumbai Indians, and one of Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Author’s Take
Goenka’s comments on MS Dhoni were not in the right spirit to start with: degrading the captaincy of one of the best in the game, that too a member of your own team, was a little disrespectful from the owner’s brother’s part.
Dhoni has been mum about this controversy all this while, showing how important the game is to him, and how he can answer his detractors with the bat. This being RPS’s last season, the Dhoni-Goenka relationship hopefully ends on a good note.
Twitter was swift in giving Goenka a stingy reply: