It was a Saturday to savour for conglomerate Sanjiv Goenka. The celebrations first began in Lucknow, where his IPL 2025 franchise, Lucknow Super Giants, clinched a comfortable win over the Gujarat Titans. Later in the day, Mohun Bagan Super Giants, his ISL 2024-25 franchise, clinched the title with a win over Bengaluru FC.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐒𝐋 𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄!
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) April 12, 2025#MBSGBFC #ISL #LetsFootball #ISLPlayoffs #ISLFinal #MBSG pic.twitter.com/Kj6VlhjHSc
From Kolkata to Lucknow! Goenka’s Super Giant Saturday
The day started with Lucknow Super Giants facing the Gujarat Titans at home in the Ekana Stadium. Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram starred with half-centuries as LSG sealed a final over win to move to third in the IPL 2025 points table. Batting first, Gujarat Titans scored 180 with openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan both scoring half-centuries. Ravi Bishnoi and Shardul Thakur struck twice while Avesh Khan and Digvesh Rathi also picked up a wicket each. Pooran hit 7 sixes in his assault, with Ayush Badoni chipping in with a 28-run cameo to seal the final over victory.
Later, Mohun Bagan Super Giants faced Bengaluru FC at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Having conceded an own goal in the 49th minute, the Mariners bounced back to put last year’s disappointment behind them. Jason Cummings scored a 72nd-minute penalty to restore parity, before a dramatic winner from Jamie McLaren scored a 96th-minute goal in extra time.
Sanjiv Goenka is a passionate owner, always in attendance when his side is in action. With both his teams in action on Saturday, the billionaire missed LSG’s win over GT in Lucknow. But come Kolkata, Goenka was ready in spirits, wearing the maroon and green and cheering his team on from the stands. He later joined them in celebrations as they celebrated the double.
Now that Mohun Bagan has sealed their most important win of the season, Goenka will hope that his Lucknow side can take inspiration and continue their IPL 2025 run. Lucknow have never won the IPL since its inception, and this could well be their season.
Proud effort by the boys
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) April 12, 2025pic.twitter.com/z52uZ5N95G
Goenka’s tenure as LSG and MBSG owner
An avid sports fan, Sanjiv Goenka bought the Lucknow franchise with a bid of ₹7,090 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 season. In the three seasons of him as owner, LSG have made it to the IPL playoffs twice, but finished out of the top 4 spots last season. This year, LSG revamped their set up, splurging a record Rs 27 crore on captain Rishabh Pant. While he hasn’t come good yet, Lucknow have snapped up 3 straight wins to continue their rise up the table. He also purchased SA20 outfit Durban Super Giants in 2022.
Goenka jointly owns Mohun Bagan, and renamed it to Mohun Bagan Super Giants after taking control of 80% stake in the consortium owning the side. The Kolkata-based franchise topped the league standings for two straight seasons and won the final this year, having lost the title last year.
