Tracing the journey of all defunct teams in IPL history

#4 Rising Pune Supergiant (2016-2017)

Rising Pune Supergiant were last year's runners-up

Rising Pune Supergiant was the replacement for Chennai Super Kings for two seasons after the two-time champions were banned along with the Rajasthan Royals due to match-fixing. The team was named Rising Pune Supergiants for IPL 2016 and was led by MS Dhoni with the likes of Steve Smith, Ravichandran Ashwin, Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane and Kevin Pietersen in their setup.

They began the tournament well by defeating reigning champs Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener. However, this was followed by four successive defeats and injury blows to a number of key players like Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis and Kevin Pietersen.

RPS were unable to make the playoffs but ended the season on a high by winning their final two matches against Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab. The victories prevented them from ending last.

For the 10th season of the IPL, RPS bought England all-rounder Ben Stokes for a whopping amount of INR 14.5 crore. They also signed Kiwi player Lockie Ferguson and Aussie Dan Christian. Steve Smith was appointed captain for the season.

The team renamed itself to Rising Pune Supergiant but they began almost similarly to 2016 as they beat Mumbai Indians in their first game but then lost three matches on the trot.

However, they came back exceptionally well, winning 8 of their remaining 10 games. RPS thus ended second in the league stage and reached the playoffs. They defeated Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier to reach the final.

In the final, RPS were up against Mumbai Indians again. However, they agonisingly fell short by a run. With Chennai Super Kings set to return for IPL 2018, Rising Pune Supergiant was dissolved.