India’s premier spinner –Ravichandran Ashwin, who played a crucial role in many triumphs of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) was not bought by the franchise in today's auction. However, Ashwin has expressed his happiness over joining new franchise Kings XI Punjab.
It is known Ashwin is a world-class bowler, especially in Tests, but MS Dhoni always has shown his trust on the spinner during the T20 league and Tamil Nadu man always met with his expectations, so all franchisees would definitely like to see him in their squad that changed the scene during the auction.
Although, Chennai bid for Ashwin till the 4 crore point, once he crossed the 4 crore mark they pulled their hands out, as they were expected to buy him at cheap prize because of their budget.
Kings XI Punjab then roped in Ashwin for 7.6 crores. Punjab will be Ashwin's second IPL franchise after Chennai Super Kings.
Veteran off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh replaced Ashiwn in CSK and with the deal the eight-year association between the two ends, though CSK will defiantly hurt after losing the spinner.
Ashwin is happy to be in the new house –KXIP, also thanked CSK for great memories. He took to Twitter to express his excitement to now play for Lions. His post on Twitter reads, “The auction is always a house of casino, I am happy that @lionsdenkxip will be my new home and thank you so much @ChennaiIPL for all the great memories. #IPLAuction”
We have our first buy of the #IPLAuction! And this time no RTM card is played. @ashwinravi99 is a KXIP player! Welcome to the lion's den! :D #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) January 27, 2018
The auction is always a house of casino, I am happy that @lionsdenkxip will be my new home and thank you so much @ChennaiIPL for all the great memories. #IPLAuction
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) January 27, 2018