IPL 2022: Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan set to join the Ahmedabad franchise

Ahead of the upcoming mega-auctions for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, the two new franchises – Lucknow and Ahmedabad were asked to submit three draft picks in the combination of two domestic players and a maximum of one foreign player.

The deadline concerning the drafting of players for both franchises has been extended till January 22. Recently, the Lucknow franchise picked three players in form of KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi. Now, the Ahmedabad team has also selected their three players.

As per ESPNcricinfo, the CVC Capital-owned Ahmedabad franchise have gone with Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, Afghanistan spin sensation Rashid Khan and Indian opener Shubman Gill. Although IPL Governing Council has set INR 15 crore, INR 11 crore and INR 7 crore for franchises to retain three players, the Ahmedabad franchise has bought Hardik and Rashid for INR 15 crore each. Gill, on the other hand, will get INR 7 crore.

The report further states that the Ahmedabad side has even finalised its coaching staff in the form of legendary South African batter and head coach Gary Kirsten, former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra and ex-England batter Vikram Solanki.

Notably, Hardik started his IPL career as an uncapped player for a mere INR 10 lakh in 2015. But by 2018, the Baroda cricketer established himself as a world-class all-rounder, and Mumbai Indians (MI) retained him for INR 11 crore.

In the next two editions of the cash-rich league, Hardik scored 762 runs and picked up 32 wickets in 29 matches. However, the 28-year-old has struggled with his fitness in the recent past, playing only as a specialist batter both for the Indian team and MI.

Similarly, Rashid began his IPL journey in 2017 when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bought him for INR 4 crore. In the very next year, SRH retained the Afghan leg-spinner for INR 9 crore. Rashid has played 76 matches since his debut and bagged 93 wickets at an economy rate of 6.33.

When it comes to Gill, he has only played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who roped him for INR 1.8 crore in the 2018 auction. The 22-year old has so far played 58 games in the lucrative league, scoring 1417 runs at a strike rate of 123 with 10 half-centuries to his name.

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January 19, 2022 at 04:22PM