Harsh Goenka heaps praises on Smith-Dhoni, compares them with Bollywood pair

After losing the IPL final on Sunday, Rising Pune Supergiant co-owner, Harsh Goenka, found an analogy in the partnership of Steve Smith and MS Dhoni with popular cinematic acts of Laurel and Hardy; and Jai and Veeru. The brother of Sanjiv Goenka, took to Twitter to reveal his thoughts about the two heavyweights of the game.

These tweets on Dhoni lately is in stark contrast with his views earlier in the tournament. Harsh faced a lot of backlash from Dhoni fans after his controversial remarks on the former Indian skipper’s captaincy. After Steve Smith scored a match-winning 87* to lead his side towards victory, Harsh backed their decision to remove Dhoni from captaincy.

Sanjiv Goenka, ahead of their fixture against Mumbai Indians on Sunday, commented that Smith’s mind is one step ahead of that of MS Dhoni. Prior to the tournament, they created many headlines by removing MSD from captaincy after their lacklustre performance last year.

Jai-Veeru

Jai-Veeru is a common Bollywood annotation which depicts great partnership whereas Laurel and Hardy are classic entertainers from the 30’s and 40’s who symbolise great camaraderie. Post Rising Pune Supergiant’s heart-breaking loss by 1 run, Harsh tweeted saying, “Outstanding combinations: Laurel- Hardy, Jai -Veeru, Smith- Dhoni#IPLfinal”

Outstanding combinations:
Laurel- Hardy
Jai -Veeru
Smith- Dhoni#IPLfinal

— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) May 21, 2017

After progressing into the playoffs, Harsh Goenka also commended the efforts of rookie Washington Sundar, Steve Smith, and MS Dhoni. He wrote- “Explosive batting by Dhoni, deceitful bowling by Sundar and great captaincy by Smith takes #RPS to the #IPL finals”

It is yet uncertain what will be the next step for Rising Pune Supergiant would be, but it is certain their contract with the IPl dissolves after this season. Many expect MS Dhoni to don the yellow jersey of Chennai Super Kings next year as the franchise is all set to return next year along with Rajasthan Royals.