Twitter goes berserk as Ravichandran Ashwin joins Jos Buttler at Rajasthan Royals
The TATA Indian Premier League Player Auction 2022, in Bengaluru on Saturday, went from good to astonishing for many. There were records broken, some players were delighted and some disappointed.
Rajasthan Royals bought veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for ₹5 crore.
The Indian spin ace, who played for Delhi Capitals in the 2020 and 2021 editions of the T20 tournament, will thus team up Jos Buttler, one of the three players retained by the franchise alongside captain Sanju Samson and Indian youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The two were involved in a fiery incident of ‘Mankading’ when Ashwin knocked the bails off at the bowler's end after the Englishman had backed up.
Following the incident, Ashwin faced criticism from current and former English cricketers.
A year later, he cheekily shared a picture of the incident to advise people to not ‘wander out’ when the first nation-wide lockdown was imposed following the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Ashwin will now be sharing the dressing room with Buttler, Twitter enjoyed a field day.
Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag took to his official Twitter profile to react to the move.
'Haha Ashwin to Rajasthan. Will love him plotting a Mankad with Buttler,' wrote Sehwag.
Aakash Chopra, another former India cricketer, wrote, 'Ashwin and Buttler in the same team. No more discussions about the mythical ‘Spirit of the game’ #IPLMegaAuction.'
Ashwin's former franchise Delhi Capitals also had a cheeky reaction:
It's a Sarojini Nagar market level bargain: Wasim Jaffer on Warner joining Delhi Capitals for ₹ 6.25 Cr
Meanwhile, David Warner was roped in by Delhi Capitals for Rs 6.25 crore. The swashbuckling Australia batter was released by SunRisers Hyderabad after a disappointing IPL 2021 season.
With Delhi Capitals fans welcoming Warner's arrival on social media, former cricketer Wasim Jaffer felt the franchise got the Aussie opener cheap and compared it to a 'Sarojini Nagar market level bargain'.
Taking to Koo, Jaffer quipped, 'Delhi people are known to strike a bargain, but getting David Warner for just ₹ 6.25cr is a Sarojini Nagar market level bargain #IPLAuction2022 #IPL2022'.
Many fans agreed with Jaffer in the tweet's comments section, with one calling it 'the biggest heist of this" auction.
The user wrote, 'Its a heist! Delhi pulled off the biggest heist of this #IPLAuction'.
Raina unsold
Once a legend of the tournament, veteran batsman Suresh Raina went unsold. He was part of Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021 and gave below-par returns.
The cricket fraternity and fans were certainly unhappy to see their favourite cricketer go unsold.
