IPL 2022 Mega Auction reunites “old friends”

Everything about the Indian Premier League is bodacious. From the nail-biting T20 clashes to big-bucks auction, the cash-rich league is one of its own. Today, on the first day of the IPL 2022’s Mega Auction another IPL-esque episode happened. Okay, one of many IPL-esque episodes happened. 

In a shocking turn of events, Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya joined the force at Lucknow Super Giants. The RPSG Group-owned franchise came into the limelight in the Mega Auction after they bought both the Baroda-based all-rounders who have a bit of a love and hate affair. 

Both the players have had quite a rivalry for a while and will now have to play alongside each other in the toughest twenty.

Let's rewind our clocks to recap what happened between these two star players. Prior to the start of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy of 2021-22, the duo all-rounders were involved in some sort of tussle off the field. 

Hooda accused Pandya of misbehaving with him in front of their own teammates. He claimed that senior Pandya was mocking, abusing and interfering him during his practice sessions. 

After the controversial outburst, the 26-year batting all-rounder decided to leave Baroda and joined Rajasthan to ply his trade in the Indian domestic circuit.

Of late, whenever the two players have met on the field there has always been an extra spice to the encounter. One can’t write scripts like these but stars have got aligned such that both the players will now have to find a common ground. 

The Lucknow-based franchise roped in Krunal for a whooping INR 8.25 crores, while they bought Hooda’s services for INR 5.75 crores.

This is not just one rare occurrence that happened in this Mega Auction. Rajasthan Royals also united two frenemies in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Jos Buttler.

The Indian veteran spinner, who was then the captain of Punjab, infamously 'Mankaded' the wicketkeeper-batter back in IPL 2019. This incident also attracted many eyeballs as the cricketing fraternity was divided into two halves. 

The greatest leg-spinner of all time, Shane Warne criticized Ashwin for going against the “Spirit of the Game”. However, the 35-year old spinner was backed by India’s finest Sunil Gavaskar, Murali Karthik and many more. 

The Royals’ CEO Jake Lush McCrum reacted hilariously when the question revolving around the frieniemes was asked during the lunch break at the mega event in Bengaluru. 

While commentating McCrum said, “We had a conversation with Jos Buttler on picking Ashwin, he was absolutely fine with it. Maybe we will have to practice that in the nets with him. But otherwise they are looking forward to playing together”. 

At the end of the first day’s Mega Auction, Rajasthan have bought 11 players with a purse remaining of INR 12.15 crores. Meanwhile, the RPSG Group-owned franchise also had a tense first day at the office. They bought 11 big names after spending INR 52.10 crores.