In the two seasons that Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals sat out, IPL 2016 and IPL 2017, the league's two newest franchises reached three of the four playoffs available to them. A side put together in December 2015 topped the IPL 2016 table with 18 points. Another side, which finished seventh that year, came within one run of the title on 21 May 2017. Neither franchise exists today. Their players, owners and ideas still run through every IPL squad of 2026.
This is the story of Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant, the "exile years" franchises. They were built to fill two empty slots, lasted 60 matches between them, and showed how quickly a T20 team can be put together, and how quickly it can fall apart.
The Exile Years: How Two Franchises Were Born in Eight Months
July 2015: the suspension
On 14 July 2015 the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee suspended the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years over the 2013 betting scandal. The IPL went from eight teams to six overnight. With the 2016 season nine months away, the BCCI had to choose between a shorter tournament and two new teams on two-year terms. It chose the new teams.
December 2015: the draft nobody had seen before
Two temporary franchises were tendered in December 2015. Sanjiv Goenka's New Rising group won Pune, and Intex Mobiles won Rajkot. On 15 December 2015 the BCCI held something the IPL had never tried: a player draft of the suspended teams' stars, held before the regular auction. Each new franchise could pick five players.
- Pune's first pick: MS Dhoni. They added R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis.
- Rajkot's first pick: Suresh Raina. They added Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo.
So Chennai's core was split down the middle. MS Dhoni went to Pune as captain, and Suresh Raina went to Rajkot as captain. The two closest teammates of IPL 2008-15 would now be opponents.
April 2016: two very different starts
Gujarat Lions won their first three matches, all by chasing, and Aaron Finch was Player of the Match in each one: against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on 11 April, Rising Pune Supergiants in Rajkot on 14 April, and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on 16 April. Rising Pune Supergiants won their first game by nine wickets at the Wankhede, with Ajinkya Rahane Player of the Match, and then lost five of their next six.
The injuries that sank Pune's first season
Pune's 2016 campaign was ruined by injuries. Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh were all ruled out before the season ended. A Bombay High Court order over the Maharashtra drought also moved Pune's home games after 30 April to Visakhapatnam. RPS finished seventh with five wins.
The season did leave one famous moment. On 21 May 2016 in Visakhapatnam, Pune needed 23 off the last over against Kings XI Punjab. Dhoni took 23 off Axar Patel's over, hitting the last two balls for six, to win with nothing to spare. It was a dead-rubber match, but it showed why Pune had made him their first pick.
IPL 2016: The Lions Top the Table
A batting line-up of openers
Gujarat Lions' batting was built on five aggressive batters, none scoring more than 400 runs. Raina, Finch, McCullum, Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Smith each scored between 324 and 399 runs, and Smith's strike rate of 146.6 was the highest of the five.
Kulkarni and Bravo with the ball
Dhawal Kulkarni took 18 wickets at an economy of 7.43 and was one of the best new-ball bowlers in the competition. Dwayne Bravo took 17 at the death. Gujarat Lions finished the league stage on 18 points, two ahead of three teams on 16.
Losing both playoff chances
Topping the table gave Gujarat Lions two chances to reach the final, and they lost both. In Qualifier 1 in Bengaluru on 24 May 2016, AB de Villiers' unbeaten 79 took Royal Challengers Bangalore home by four wickets. In Qualifier 2 at the Feroz Shah Kotla three days later, David Warner's unbeaten 93 did the same for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who went on to win the title. Gujarat Lions had also lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 144 runs on 14 May, the worst defeat of their two years.
IPL 2017: The Supergiant Reinvention
The captaincy change
In February 2017 Pune made the most controversial decision of the period: they replaced Dhoni as captain with Steve Smith. Dhoni stayed in the side as wicketkeeper and finisher. The franchise also dropped the "s" from its name and became Rising Pune Supergiant. At the auction it paid ₹14.5 crore for Ben Stokes, the most expensive overseas buy of the year.
Unadkat, Stokes and a Pune local
Every signing worked. Stokes scored 316 runs, took 12 wickets, made an unbeaten century against Gujarat Lions in Pune on 1 May, and was named Most Valuable Player of the season. Jaydev Unadkat, bought as a backup seamer, took 24 wickets at an economy of 7.03, including a final-over hat-trick against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 6 May. Rahul Tripathi, a Pune batter who had not played an IPL game before, scored 391 runs at a strike rate of 146.4.
Qualifier 1 and a teenage off-spinner
Pune finished second on 18 points and played Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede on 16 May 2017. Washington Sundar, then 17, took 3 for 16 in four overs and Pune won by 20 runs. Pune had beaten Mumbai three times in three matches that season.
The one-run final
The final in Hyderabad on 21 May 2017 was the closest in IPL history. Mumbai Indians made 129 for 8. Pune, needing 130, were 98 for 2 after 16 overs. Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Dhoni (10) with the first ball of the 17th. Then, defending 11 in the final over, Mitchell Johnson took the wickets of Manoj Tiwary and Smith (51) with consecutive balls. Pune finished on 128 for 6 and lost by one run. A franchise in its last season had come within one run of the title.
The Lions' second season
Gujarat Lions had a much worse 2017. Andrew Tye took a hat-trick and 5 for 17 on debut against Pune on 14 April, but a shoulder injury ended his season in early May. The Lions played their final home games in Kanpur and finished seventh with four wins and a Super Over defeat to Mumbai Indians in Rajkot on 29 April. Raina scored 442 runs and Finch struck at 163.0, but the bowling, led by Basil Thampi at an economy of 9.49, conceded too much. Their last match, on 13 May 2017 in Kanpur, was an eight-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Data Deep-Dive: The Two Franchises in Numbers
League tables
| Season | Franchise | Played | Won | Lost | Points | League position | Playoff result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Gujarat Lions | 14 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 1st | Lost Q1 and Q2 |
| 2016 | Rising Pune Supergiants | 14 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 7th | Did not qualify |
| 2017 | Rising Pune Supergiant | 14 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 2nd | Won Q1, lost final by 1 run |
| 2017 | Gujarat Lions | 14 | 4 | 10* | 8 | 7th | Did not qualify |
*Includes the Super Over defeat to Mumbai Indians on 29 April 2017.
Over two seasons Rising Pune finished level at 15 wins and 15 losses, playoffs included. Gujarat Lions won 13 and lost 17. Gujarat Lions won the head-to-head 3-1: both games in 2016, then one each in 2017.
Leading run-scorers
| Player | Franchise | Season | Runs | Strike rate | Sixes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajinkya Rahane | Rising Pune Supergiants | 2016 | 480 | 126.6 | 9 |
| Steve Smith | Rising Pune Supergiant | 2017 | 472 | 122.0 | 12 |
| Suresh Raina | Gujarat Lions | 2017 | 442 | 144.0 | 13 |
| Suresh Raina | Gujarat Lions | 2016 | 399 | 127.9 | 10 |
| Aaron Finch | Gujarat Lions | 2016 | 393 | 131.4 | 11 |
| Rahul Tripathi | Rising Pune Supergiant | 2017 | 391 | 146.4 | 17 |
| Brendon McCullum | Gujarat Lions | 2016 | 354 | 135.1 | 16 |
Leading wicket-takers
| Player | Franchise | Season | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaydev Unadkat | Rising Pune Supergiant | 2017 | 24 | 7.03 |
| Dhawal Kulkarni | Gujarat Lions | 2016 | 18 | 7.43 |
| Imran Tahir | Rising Pune Supergiant | 2017 | 18 | 7.85 |
| Dwayne Bravo | Gujarat Lions | 2016 | 17 | 8.82 |
| Ben Stokes | Rising Pune Supergiant | 2017 | 12 | 7.18 |
| Andrew Tye | Gujarat Lions | 2017 | 12 | 6.71 |
| Adam Zampa | Rising Pune Supergiants | 2016 | 12 | 6.76 |
All figures are from Cricsheet ball-by-ball data. Wickets exclude run-outs, and economy counts every run charged to the bowler, including wides and no-balls.
Legacy Impact: What the Exile Years Mean in 2026
The owners came back
Both franchises were wound up after the 2017 final, when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals returned. Sanjiv Goenka's group came back in 2021 as owners of Lucknow Super Giants, and the "Super Giants" name is a direct link to Pune. Gujarat Titans, a new franchise with different owners, won the title in their first season in 2022 and proved that the state had a market. Gujarat Lions had shown that first.
The players are still everywhere
Many IPL 2026 players got their start, or a fresh start, in these two franchises:
- [MS Dhoni](/players/ms-dhoni) went back to Chennai Super Kings in 2018 and won the title in the first season after the ban.
- [Ravindra Jadeja](/players/ravindra-jadeja) spent two seasons at Gujarat Lions before returning to Chennai. He plays for Rajasthan Royals in 2026.
- [Ajinkya Rahane](/players/ajinkya-rahane), Pune's top scorer in 2016, captains Kolkata Knight Riders in 2026.
- [Washington Sundar](/players/washington-sundar) made his IPL debut for Pune in 2017. He is with Gujarat Titans in 2026.
- [Ishan Kishan](/players/ishan-kishan) scored 277 runs for Gujarat Lions as a teenager in 2017. He plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2026, where Jaydev Unadkat is a teammate.
- [Shardul Thakur](/players/shardul-thakur) took 11 wickets for Pune in 2017 and plays for Mumbai Indians in 2026.
- Rahul Tripathi, the uncapped Pune batter of 2017, is in the Kolkata Knight Riders squad.
What the model learns from two short-lived teams
Franchises that existed for only two seasons cause a specific problem for a prediction model. With 30 matches each, Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant give a short, self-contained record that cannot be merged into any current team's history. CricMind's Oracle deliberately keeps them separate: the franchise-rename map in its rating history joins Delhi Daredevils to Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings, but it does not attach Pune to Lucknow or Gujarat Lions to Gujarat Titans. A new squad makes a new team, even when the owners or the name carry over. That choice is part of why the Oracle's head-to-head numbers for Lucknow and Gujarat Titans start in 2022 and not in 2016.
Three Takeaways
- A new team can be competitive straight away. Gujarat Lions topped the IPL 2016 league table within five months of their draft, and Rising Pune Supergiant reached the 2017 final. Recruiting well mattered more than history, as Gujarat Titans showed again in 2022.
- Changing the captain, not the players, turned Pune around. The 2017 side kept Dhoni, gave Smith the captaincy and spent heavily on Stokes and Unadkat. They improved from seventh with 10 points to second with 18, and from 5 wins to 10.
- Topping the league table is not enough. Gujarat Lions finished first in 2016 and lost both of their playoff games. It is still one of the clearest examples of how much knockout cricket depends on a single innings, in this case de Villiers' and then Warner's.
FAQ
Why did Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant exist?
They were created as two-year replacement franchises after the Lodha Committee suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in July 2015 over the 2013 betting scandal. They played IPL 2016 and IPL 2017 and were wound up when Chennai and Rajasthan returned in 2018.
Who captained the two franchises?
Suresh Raina captained Gujarat Lions in both seasons. MS Dhoni captained Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016, and Steve Smith took over for 2017, with Dhoni still in the side as wicketkeeper.
How did Rising Pune Supergiant lose the IPL 2017 final?
Chasing 130 against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad on 21 May 2017, Pune were 98 for 2 after 16 overs and finished on 128 for 6. Mitchell Johnson defended 11 in the final over, and Mumbai won by one run, the closest margin in an IPL final.
Did Gujarat Lions ever reach an IPL final?
No. They topped the 2016 league table with 18 points but lost Qualifier 1 to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Qualifier 2 to Sunrisers Hyderabad, who went on to win the title.
Are Gujarat Titans the same franchise as Gujarat Lions?
No. Gujarat Titans joined in 2022 with different owners and a new squad, and won the title in their first season. The only things they share with Gujarat Lions are the state and part of the fanbase.
Is Lucknow Super Giants connected to Rising Pune Supergiant?
The owners are the same. Sanjiv Goenka's group ran Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017 and bought the Lucknow franchise in 2021, keeping the "Super Giants" name. They are separate franchises, and match records are not carried over from one to the other.
Who was the best player of the two exile seasons?
On impact, Ben Stokes in 2017: 316 runs, 12 wickets, an unbeaten century and the Most Valuable Player award. On totals, Ajinkya Rahane's 480 runs in 2016 and Jaydev Unadkat's 24 wickets in 2017 were the best batting and bowling returns for either franchise.