Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has joined the Rajasthan Royals after being bought by the franchise at the mega auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Royals and
Ashwin’s previous franchise, the Delhi Capitals, initiated a bidding for him,
but the former won the bid for Rs 5 crore.

Ashwin’s first brush with the Royal colours came three
days after he was bought up at the auction. Ashwin met RR captain Sanju Samson
and received a gift from Jake Lush McCrum, the franchise’s COO.

During the unboxing, Ashwin expressed his excitement
at being a member of the Royals, and the colour pink, which he shares with his
daughters Akhira and Aadhya, was the biggest perk.

“My daughters
actually love pink. So, the biggest plus of me playing for RR would be the pink
dress. They’ll be all over it,” Ashwin said in a video shared by the
Royals on social media on Tuesday.

Ashwin, who returned to India’s white-ball team after
a four-year layoff thanks to his IPL achievements, will be looking to keep up
his good form as he moves from Delhi to Rajasthan.

Also read: IPL 2022 Auction: Ashwin, Buttler in same team 3 years after ‘Mankading’ saga

RR brought in other Indian international players,
including Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, and Devdutt
Padikkal, in addition to Ashwin. While Ashwin was looking forward to bowling with
Chahal, he was most delighted to be playing with Jos Buttler, the wicket-keeper
batsman with whom he mankaded in IPL 2019 while representing the Kings XI
Punjab.

“Looking forward to
bowling alongside Yuzi. It’s going to be a lot of fun. And, most importantly
looking forward to sharing dressing room with Jos, how good is that going to
be?” Ashwin had said in the first video posted by RR on social media after
him joining the franchise.