They came, they saw and they almost conquered...but that's how the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was. Rising Pune Supergiant's (RPS) final IPL campaign came to a cruel end when Mumbai Indians (MI) lifted the crown for the third time with a narrow one-run win. As for Rising Pune Supergiant, under the leadership of Steve Smith despite the presence of MS Dhoni in the side, it was all going according to plan in the final that includes event he final. They had restricted Mumbai to 129 for 8 thanks to Jaydev Unadkat (2/19), Adam Zampa (2/32) and Dan Christian (2/34).

Rising Pune Supergiant had a good start with Ajinkya Rahane scoring a quickfire 44, however, regular wickets combined with superb bowling from Mumbai put pressure of chasing. Smith scored 51 but his 50-ball effort could not help the side win. With 11 runs needed off the last over, Mitchell Johnson bowled the over of his life and Rising Pune Supergiant fell short by a matter of inches. IPL 2017 was also the year Pune removed MS Dhoni from captaincy and handed it over to Smith, a decision which did not go down well by fans. 

However, the decision worked in favour of the team as Smith's captaincy along with Dhoni's tactical brilliance saw Pune turn their campaign around after they had finished seventh in 2016. The Maharashtra derby also saw Pune buying Ben Stokes for a record Rs 14.50 crore and he had become the most expensive foreign player in the history of the IPL. 

It was a sad way for the franchise to end, but in 2017, they had lit the tournament up with some fabulous performances.