List of reasons that resulted in MS Dhoni's sacking as RPS captain

On the eve of the IPL 2017 auction a surprising news floated in the media and it spread like wildfire, fans were stunned and there were reports of multiple angles coming in. Rising Pune Supergiants had decided to sack former Indian captain MS Dhoni and replace him with Australian captain Steve Smith as the skipper of the team. A few suggested it was Dhoni who stepped down while others suggested the franchise owners had made the decision.

Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of the team in his interaction with several agencies later made it clear that it was a conscious decision at their end since they weren’t happy with the results the team managed last season and wanted a younger captain to take charge for the tenth edition which will be their last in the league.

After the IPL auction, Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin interviewed Goenka and he gave out the details of how a lot of things eventually led to this stage where they were left with no other option.

DNA listed the entire sequence in points:

“The team didn’t perform to the potential last year. So we were looking for a captain like Steve who could get us the desired results. It might not be an acceptable decision for many but is definitely in the best interest of the team.” Goenka said.

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“I am a straight forward guy and speak the truth on a person’s face. Thus I didn’t feel the need to conceal the fact that we had made the decision to sack Dhoni as the captain. There was no personal reason behind it but one that appears to be in the best interest of the team so I had to make it.” He further added

Goenka also had troubles reaching to Dhoni on phone and the gap in communication aggravated things.

It also mentioned specific which didn’t go down well with Goenka:

1. Despite being the captain Dhoni remained absent in important team meetings. To get in touch with him phone calls had to be routed through Arun Pandey his agent.

2. He didn’t attend quite a few of team meetings. The decisions made in the bowlers’ meeting weren’t implemented on the field since Dhoni wasn’t aware of it and set his own fields.

3. He wasn’t present during net sessions and thus wasn’t aware who among the young players was doing well. The team had benched Australian spinner Adam Zampa for the first half of the tournament. It was after Gujarat Lions’ skipper Suresh Raina’s suggestion that the RPS management asked Dhoni why he hadn’t picked Zampa yet in the playing XI. Dhoni hadn’t seen him play in the nets and so didn’t consider him. Goenka persisted and that was when Zampa eventually made it to the team and was successful.

4. Some of his decisions like one to include an unfit Sourabh Tiwary who hadn’t done exceptionally well in domestic cricket either bewildered the owners but Dhoni backed him a bit too much.

5. He suggested them on non-cricketing matters as well something Dhoni did at CSK but RPS didn’t want to involve him in those areas.

Earlier this year the skipper met Goenka and they had sent out signals to him about what could be in store. Ahead of the auction RPS CEO Raghu Aich had a meeting with Dhoni in Ranchi to officially inform him of the decision. MSD was unaffected and said, “You can do what you feel is right. This is your decision and I am ready to serve as a normal player.”