Ashwin game for stint with new IPL team
ALL I NEED IS NEW CHALLENGES, INDIA SPINNER SAYS
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) players’ draft scheduled for December 15, India’s star offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin yesterday said he is looking forward to a new challenge in the cash-rich league, adding that it doesn’t matter to him which franchise picks him.
Sanjeev Goenka’s ‘New Rising’ won the bid for the Pune franchisee while Intex won for Rajkot after a reverse bidding process held in New Delhi on December 8.
Goenka’s company will shell out Rs160 million (Dh8.8 million) while Intex will pay Rs100 million to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“In three days time, Pune or Rajkot will be my new summer destination. Looking forward to a new beginning and more challenges,” Ashwin tweeted.
“If I don’t make it to both of these teams, I will go into the auction. Does not matter who picks me, all I need is new challenges. No stagnating,” the Chennai-born spinner said.
Till the 2015 IPL season, Ashwin represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and played under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. CSK outfit had one of the most settled teams in the history of IPL with Dhoni, Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Ravinder Jadeja all serving the yellow shirts for a prolonged period.
But after the suspension of IPL franchises CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in July this year from the league for two years by the Supreme Courtappointed Justice Lodha Committee in the spot fixing and betting scandal that rocked the Twenty20 tournament in 2013, two new teams were introduced for two years by the country’s cricket board.
Lowest bidders
Pune will be given the choice to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders (negative bids) to buy the new team for two years.
CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving their suspension. The ninth edition of the IPL scheduled from April 9 to
is May 29 next year. Indian star Virat Kohli said that the advent of the IPL has taken away the home advantage from India who is hosting the ICC World T20 Championship in MarchApril next year.
“So many players all around the world have played in the IPL for 8-9 years now, so they are pretty familiar with the Indian conditions,” said Kohli during a panel discussion after the launch of the ICC tournament and release of its schedule in Mumbai on Friday.
“We saw the players executing their skills in shorter format that we played against South Africa just now, so they (foreign players) know where to bowl and which shots to hit in Indian conditions,” he said.
The Indian Test captain was responding to a query about the teams he thought were dangerous in the tournament by cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar during the discussion after the formal launch of the mega event to be held from March 15-April 3 in eight centres across the country.