Highlights:
- Hardik Pandya was signed by Rs.15 crore by Ahmedabad IPL Franchise.
- Hardik Pandya will lead an IPL team for the first time in his career.
- Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan are the two other picks for Ahmedabad team.
- Gary Kirsten will serve as a batting coach and mentor for Ahmedabad franchise.
- The mega auction IPL-2022 will take place in February in Bengaluru.
IPL-2022:
The Indian Premier League (IPL)-2022 is a fifteenth season of IPL. It is a professional T20 Cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The fifteenth edition will see the expansion of the league, with the addition of two new franchises. In August 2021, the BCCI confirmed that two new franchises would join the IPL-2022 league. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is the defending champions of last season.
Mega Auction of IPL-2022:
The mega auction for the IPL-2022 is to be held on February 12 and 13, 2022. The venue of the auction is Bengaluru. It will be a two-day event like the 2018 mega auction.
Hardik Pandya officially named captain for Ahmedabad Franchise:
Ahmedabad IPL franchise officially announced their new captain named Hardik Pandya. He was a former Mumbai Indians all-rounder joined Ahmedabad. He was signed for Rs.15 crore as the Ahmedabad franchise, owned by CVC Capital. On January 21st-2022, Vikram Solanki who is an Ahmedabad’s director of cricket – announced their three draft picks ahead of mega auction. They also roped Indian Opener Shubman Gill for Rs.8 crore and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan for Rs. 15 crore.
Hardik Pandya – About:
This is the first time that Hardik Pandya will lead a team in the IPL. He will also be the only player to represent home state IPL team as the captain.
He had been an integral member of Mumbai Indians, after he was released by the five-time champions. He is an all-rounder who has played a total of 92 matches and scored 1476 runs at a strike rate of 153.91. He also picked up 42 wickets as well. He has not played for India since the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year. He is recovering from persistent back issues as he missed the home series against New Zealand and the tour of South Africa.
Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan:
Ahmedabad franchises have paid big money (Rs.15 crore) to best leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who was previously part of the SunRisers Hyderabad franchise. They have also roped in Shubman Gill for Rs.8 crore, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous seasons. It was higher than the base price of third player’s slab.
Team Mentor – Gary Kristen:
Former South Africa and World Cup-winning coach Gary Kristen is excited to return to the IPL as the mentor of the new Ahmedabad Franchise. On January 21st-2022, he said, “I am looking forward to working with Hardik Pandya, he is raring to go, we are lucky to have player of his skill.”
He also added, “What I have heard is that he is raring to go and get into the mix from a leadership perspective. So, I think that’s really exciting for us to have a player with such a level of skill, motivated to do well in this competition.”
He also believes that both Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill will be integral to Ahmedabad’s team success in IPL-2022.
Ahmedabad IPL Franchise Draft Picks:
- Hardik Pandya (Captain) – Rs 15 Cr
- Rashid Khan – Rs 15 Cr
- Shubman Gill – Rs 8 Cr
On January 22nd-2022, Ahmedabad and Lucknow franchises were asked to submit the list of their draft picks.
Hardik Pandya’s Message for fans:
Hardik Pandya shared a special video message for his fans on his Twitter handle on January 22nd -2022 (Saturday).
“Kem cho Ahmedabad,” Pandya captioned the video. He said that he was “super excited to start this new journey with the Ahmedabad IPL team. “Just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the owners, the management for putting their faith in me as the captain of this team. It’s a new era for us and I am excited for what lies ahead,” he was seen as saying in the video message.
Pandya promised that the Ahmedabad team will always fight and give its all. He also welcomed Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill into the team. Watch his message here:
