2011 season
Being a new team in the IPL with a fresh auction purse, Warriors bid aggressively in the 2011 IPL auction held on 9 January 2011. They signed a number of top international cricketers including Graeme Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Wayne Parnell, Jerome Taylor, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Jesse Ryder, Angelo Mathews, Murali Kartik, Ashish Nehra, and Alfonso Thomas[10] as well as a number of uncapped Indian players who had previously played for others franchises, including Rahul Sharma, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish Mishra, Ganesh Gaikwad, Manish Pandey and Kamran Khan. Yuvraj Singh was appointed as captain,[11] while former Australian opener Geoff Marsh was appointed as the team's coach.[12] On 3 May 2011, the Pune Warriors selected former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to play for them as a replacement for the injured Ashish Nehra.[13] This marked Ganguly's comeback to the IPL. Ganguly had been discarded by his former team Kolkata Knight Riders prior to the 2011 IPL auction and was not bought by any of the teams in the auction.[10]
The Warriors got off to a successful start in the 2011 Indian Premier League by defeating Kings XI Punjab and Kochi Tuskers Kerala at home. Following this successful start, however, the team's performance went downhill and they only won another 2 matches that season, which were against Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers, both away. Their final match of the season against Delhi Daredevils away was abandoned due to rain.[14] Pune finished 9th and second-last that season with 4 wins, 9 losses and 1 no-result in 14 matches.
First withdrawal from IPL and return
Sahara withdrew Pune Warriors India from the IPL along with the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team just hours before the 2012 IPL auction was about to start, dealing a major blow to the BCCI and the IPL, which was already reeling after the disbanding of Kochi Tuskers Kerala in late 2011.[15] They also boycotted the auction held on 4 February 2012. The main reason for the withdrawal was due to a problem in the amount of franchise fee to be paid by the Pune team. Sahara insisted that it had bid a huge amount for the Pune franchise under the notion that there would be 94 matches in the 2011 IPL season. As the BCCI later reduced the number of IPL matches to 74, Sahara demanded a reduction in the amount of franchise fee to be paid by them to maintain viable IPL proposition. Other reasons included disputes between Sahara and the BCCI regarding the IPL rules, such as player retention and the 4-foreign player rule and also the refusal on the part of the BCCI to allow Pune to add Yuvraj Singh's price to their auction purse so that they could buy another player as a replacement for Yuvraj. Yuvraj was set to miss the whole 2012 season as he was undergoing treatment for germ cell cancer.[15] On 6 February 2012, Subrata Roy, the chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, said that Sourav Ganguly will take a call on reconciliation.[16] A week later, the BCCI announced that they have allowed Yuvraj Singh's replacement for Pune Warriors India for the 2012 season, though a deadlock still persisted between the two parties on long-term sponsorship.
2012 season
Though Pune boycotted the IPL auction, they signed international cricketers outside the auction including Marlon Samuels, Luke Wright, Steve Smith, Tamim Iqbal, James Hopes and Michael Clarke. They also signed Indian players including Raiphi Gomez, Ali Murtaza, Ashok Dinda, Anustup Majumdar and Mahesh Rawat. Due to Yuvraj's unavailability for the entire season, Ganguly was made the captain of the franchise.[20] He was also made part of the coaching staff as a mentor.[21] Former South African fast bowler Allan Donald and former Indian batsman Praveen Amre were also roped in as bowling and batting coaches respectively, replacing Marsh who had resigned to become the Sri Lankan coach.[21]
The team started off their IPL 2012 campaign with wins against Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab away and at home respectively. But just like in 2011, the team could not maintain the initial momentum and again won only two more matches that season, against defending champions Chennai Super Kings at home and Delhi Daredevils away.
2013 season
For the 2013 season, Pune Warriors India retained Steve Smith, Tamim Iqbal, Marlon Samuels and Luke Wright but released Clarke, James Hopes, Callum Ferguson, Alfonso Thomas, Murali Kartik and Jesse Ryder. Ganguly announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in October 2012,[22] leaving the franchise without a captain. In the auction which was held on 3 February 2013, Clarke was bought back by the franchise for $400,000.[23] The team also bought international players like Ajantha Mendis and Kane Richardson and signed domestic players like Abhishek Nayar, Tirumalasetti Suman, Ishwar Pandey, Parvez Rasool and Udit Birla for the 2013 season. The franchise also swapped a player with the Delhi Daredevils, trading Nehra for New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor.[24] Yuvraj also returned to the team following his recovery from cancer. Unfortunately for the franchise, Clarke, who was the frontrunner to lead the team, was ruled out of the entire season with a recurring back and hamstring injury, which was aggravated during the Australian tour of India held earlier.[25]
Second and final withdrawal from IPL
On 21 May 2013, just two days after finishing its league campaign, Sahara withdrew Pune Warriors India from the IPL for the second time in three years.[5] The reason, according to BCCI, was the encashing of the team's bank guarantee after Sahara defaulted on paying the entire franchise fee.[5] BCCI sources said that Sahara paid 20% of the franchise fee in January 2013 and had promised to pay the remaining amount by 19 May 2013 but they failed to do so.[28] But Sahara blamed BCCI for the decision to pull out the Pune franchise from the IPL. In a statement from Sahara after pulling out Pune Warriors India from the IPL, it stated that Sahara had to pull out of IPL due to the BCCI's stubborn and disinterested attitude towards the reduction of the Pune team's franchise fee. It also stated that Sahara was "disgusted" by the unsporting and biased attitude of the BCCI towards it and the Pune franchise despite its supporting of Indian cricket for more than a decade,[29] the decision to withdraw from the IPL was final and it will not return to the IPL even if the entire franchise fee is waived by the BCCI.[29]
