IPL 2017 has just started a couple of days back and we are already getting to see some nail-biting action on the field and even off it. Controversies are part of a league like this and as expected, the first bug has bitten the IPL 2017.
Harsh Goenka is the chairman of RPG Enterprises and the brother of Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) owner Sanjiv Goenka, according to his Twitter bio, he loves people and cricket but his recent remark on the sacking of MS Dhoni as the team’s captain doesn’t reflect the same.
Cricket being a religion in India, has loyal followers in huge numbers but that didn’t seem to alert Harsh Goenka when he declassed one of the greatest and most successful Indian captain and praise an Aussie who had been marked as the No.1 villain after the recently concluded Indian vs Australia Test series.
On Thursday evening, Steve Smith (captain) played an exceptional knock of 80 runs to lead Rising Pune Supergiant to a victory over Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in the second match of IPL 2017. Interestingly, last year, the captain’s responsibility was on MS Dhoni but the team managed to just marginally dodge the humiliation for being the least performing team of IPL 2016. They also never won a home game at the Maharashtra Cricket Association, Pune, until now.
Hours after the match, Harsh Goenka, the self-proclaimed cricket lover, took Smith’s match-winning 84* runs innings as an opportunity to praise the decision to hand him the captaincy over MS Dhoni for the IPL 2017 edition. The said decision, however, brought the franchise on the receiving end of wrath by Indian Cricket and MS Dhoni’s fans.
Goenka’s Tweet was taken down from the social media site within moments but an MS Dhoni-fan did the right thing and took a screenshot to later share it via his handle.
Here is the deleted tweet.
Rishu on Twitter
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
While his words might be true for some followers but the way he put his words forward was absolutely disgusting. It was a clear insult to the most celebrated captains of modern day Indian cricket and it didn’t go down well with the fans.
Vamsi Kaka on Twitter
@hvgoenka 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
Prabhu on Twitter
@hvgoenka As MS always Says, Never take your wins to Head – losses to heart. Such outbursts are common when you are desperate for success. Take rest
DHONI Fan Here ™ on Twitter
@hvgoenka It May Be Smith’s Day Today … Learn To Respect The Legend Who Had Won All The Trophies For His Nation … B4 Comparing With Someone
Rashmi Srivastava on Twitter
@hvgoenka Don’t you dare insult Dhoni. Your team has got supporters coz of the main man.
Drunk BATMAN on Twitter
@hvgoenka You will instantly lose 80% of the supporters the day Dhoni leaves the team …btw you already lost 20% when you tweeted this!
Hound on Twitter
@hvgoenka Dhoni was intentionally giving strike to Smith as he was settled. That’s called team spirit which you businessmen would never understand.
Nine out of ten times, people expect MS Dhoni to finish off matches like the one we witnessed yesterday in IPL 2017 but it was not his day. He faced the fort and the third ball of the final over before Steven Smith took the onus upon himself when 10 more runs were required from the last three balls. The Aussie Captain smashed two consecutive sixes off the next two balls and led his team to the victory.
However, this doesn’t rule out any of the match-winning knocks that MS Dhoni has played in the past and, he was and still is one of the best finishers that Indian Cricket has seen in the last decade.