The England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler has welcomed Ravichandran Ashwin to Rajasthan Royals after the Indian veteran off-spinner was bought by the Royals management on the first day of the IPL mega auction yesterday.
Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Ashwin were involved in a major on-field controversy in IPL 2018 when Ashwin had mankaded Buttler at the non-striker’s end for backing up too far and leaving his crease before the ball was released by the bowler.
When the Royals placed a bid for Ashwin yesterday, despite knowing his history with Buttler who is one of their most important players, some of the Royals fans were actually quite surprised, but then the Royals CEO later clarified that they had a chat with Buttler before going for Ashwin and he was fine with the Indian off-spinner being brought into the Royals set-up.
After Ashwin was formally bought by the Royals, the Royals uploaded a video on their Twitter handle where Buttler welcomed Ashwin and told him jokingly that he was already inside his crease and couldn’t wait to share the dressing room with him.
Buttler might be seen keeping wickets off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin
Buttler was one of the three players, along with the captain Sanju Samson and the uncapped Indian player Yashasvi Jaiswal, whom the Royals had retained ahead of the mega auction. There were some other reputed names in the Royals ranks to be retained, but the management went with Buttler because he is not just the most explosive T20 opener in the world, he keeps wickets as well.
While the first choice wicket-keeper of Rajasthan Royals will be the captain Sanju Samson himself, there might arise an opportunity where Buttler might be keeping wickets off the bowling of Ashwin in one of the games as well and that will be a sight to behold. Here is the video the Rajasthan Royals posted of Buttler welcoming Ashwin –
To Ash, with love 💗
– @josbuttler#RoyalsFamily | @ashwinravi99 | #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/t7LJRPPtwa
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) February 12, 2022
