Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

RPS owner’s brother takes indirect dig at Dhoni

- HT Correspond­ent

There seems to be no end to the MS Dhonigoenk­a saga with Harsh Goenka, brother of Rising Pune Supergiant owner Sanjeev Goenka, taking an indirect dig at the former India captain on Twitter after his side cruised to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

It was Pune’s seventh win in 11 matches, with Rahul Tripathi leading the charge with a scintillat­ing 52-ball 93 to chase down the 156-run target set by the former champions.

While Tripathi rightfully earned praises and accolades from across the world, Harsh Goenka tweeted: “Great thing about #RPS - a new hero every game -Tripathi, Stokes, Smith, Tahir. Peaking at the right time.”

Tripathi has been brilliant up the order for Rising Pune Supergiant this season with 352 runs to his name at a strike rate of 155.06.

Smith, too, had helped Supergiant win their first game against Mumbai Indians while Ben Stokes hit a terrific ton to win the game for his side against Gujarat Lions in the previous match.

Imran Tahir has been pretty impressive this season, with the veteran picking up crucial wickets to run through the opposition consistent­ly.

He played a crucial role in Supergiant’s win over Royal Challenger­s Bangalore as well.

However, what Harsh Goenka seemed to have forgotten was the manner in which Dhoni had finished the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad at home.

With 47 required off the last three overs, it was Dhoni’s pow- er-hitting that turned the game on its head as they chased down the target in the final delivery of the match.

However, while it earned plaudits across the globe, it seemed to have failed to impress Harsh Goenka who has been grabbing headlines consistent­ly for his anti-dhoni posts. After Supergiant had picked up their first match against MI, he had tweeted: “#RPSVMI Smith proved who’s the king of the jungle. Overshadow­s Dhoni totally. Captains innings. Great move to appoint him as captain”. Although he deleted the tweet after he had to face severe criti cism, he came up with a tweet that compared strike rates between his side’s batsmen after the sec ond game.

Naturally, Dhoni’s fans were not happy with Goenka’s con stant tirade against ‘Captain cool who had been forced to step down just before the start of the tourna ment. While Dhoni was indeed suffering from a patchy form in the initial stages, he has struck back form of late but that seems to have done little to impress Harsh Goenka who is yet to acknowl edge Dhoni’s contributi­ons for the side.

Great thing about #RPS a new hero every game Tripathi, Stokes, Smith, Tahir. Peaking at the right time

 ?? HT ?? MS Dhoni was once again indirectly targetted by Harsh Goenka.
HT MS Dhoni was once again indirectly targetted by Harsh Goenka.

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