Credit: Twitter
Rajvardhan Hangargekar, the under-19 Cricket World Cup winner for India and the young fast bowling sensation, made his long-awaited IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings against Gujarat Titans in the opening fixture of the 2023 season. Recently, the 20-year-old pacer attended his first CSK event and MS Dhoni poked fun at him on giving extra runs.
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He was initially picked by CSK before the IPL 2022 at the auction for ₹1.5 crores, but sat on the sidelines last year. In the IPL 2023, Hangargekar has bowled six overs in two matches and picked three wickets for 60 runs including six wides and a no-ball.
Recently, he was spotted alongside CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and one of the coaches Dwayne Bravo in a meet and greet event hosted by the franchise. Chennai Super Kings posted a clip of the occasion on their Twitter account with a caption, "Extra Love and Banter! That's how Raj’s first ever meet and greet went by!"
In the clip, MS Dhoni was quoted as saying, "Raj ko sabse jyada time laga ready hone mein." Further, MSD asked him, "Pehla event hai?" to which Rajvardhan Hangargekar nodded 'yes'.
When Hangargekar was asked about his feeling on being in this event alongside Dhoni and Bravo. He politely said, “Good evening everyone. Very happy to be here.” The Maharashtra-based bowler added, "As Mahi bhaiya said ki jitna jyada hum iss event ko fun kar sakte hai, acha hasi mazak mein rakh sakte hai, utna try karenge, aur let’s see," which can be translated as, "Mahi bhaiya said, we'll try to make this event entertaining and fun."
Just as he finished his sentence, MS Dhoni jumped into the conversation and said, "Basically bol raha hai koi iske no-ball ke baare mein baat nahi karega," to which everyone in the audience and the panel had a massive laugh. The English translation of MSD's comment read, "Basically he is saying nobody will talk about his no-ball."
Watch the video here:
Hangargekar picked up three wickets for 36 runs in his four overs against GT, however, the youngster failed to pick any wicket in his second match against LSG and went for 24 runs in two overs. He wasn't picked in the CSK squad for their last clash against Mumbai Indians.