Jos Buttler, in a video message, welcomed Ravichandran Ashwin to the Rajasthan Royals. The Indian off-spinner was signed by the IPL franchise for Rs 5 crore on the first day of the mega auction.

In 2019, Ashwin had run out Buttler at the non-striker’s end before bowling the delivery. The mode of dismissal, controversial, is known as Mankad.

He was the captain of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) that year and the English wicketkeeper-batsman opened for the Rajasthan Royals.

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As soon as Ashwin was announced as a Royals player for the 2022 season, chatter about the Mankad incident was all over social media.

“Haha Ashwin to Rajasthan. Will love him plotting a Mankad with Buttler,” former India batsman Virender Sehwag wrote.

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“RR wants to save Buttler from Mankad by just buying Ashwin,” another social media user tweeted.

Buttler and Ashwin were involved in a heated exchange after the Mankad incident. On Saturday, the latter, in a video message, playfully, said that he looks forward to joining the Royals and ‘sharing a dressing room with Jos (Buttler)’.

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In response, the England player, who opens for Rajasthan, asked Ashwin to not worry and assured him that he is ‘inside the crease’.

“Hey Ash, Jos here. Don’t worry, I am inside the crease. Can’t wait to see you in pink for the Royals. Look forward to sharing a dressing room with you. Halla Bol,” Buttler said.

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Rajasthan Royals’ CEO Jake Lush McCrum, during a media interaction on Saturday, revealed that the franchise had checked with Buttler before bidding for Ashwin.

“We spoke to Jos prior to the auction, and just talked through all of our prioritisation of players. Honestly, he didn’t even think about it (the incident). I had to sort of bring it up to just check it was okay. And he said ‘it’s absolutely fine’,” he said.

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RR also added the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag and Prasidh Krishna to their squad. They have 11 players and Rs 12.5 crore in their kitty and the 2008 champions head to day two of the auction.