Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian Premier League (IPL) new entrant- the Ahmedabad-based franchise- announced their official name "Gujarat Titans" on Wednesday (09 February) afternoon. The franchise will be one of two new teams entering the league from the 2022 season as the IPL expands to a ten-team competition. The franchise is owned by the CVC group. The Titans had already picked their three pre-auction picks with Hardik Pandya (Rs. 15 Crore) set to lead them in their inaugural season.
The franchise has also secured the services of Afghanistan's most consistent and successful leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who is regarded as the best T20 player in the world for the same amount. Young prodigy Shubman Gill will also play for Ahmedabad after agreeing to an Rs. 8 Crore contract with the franchise.
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However, the Gujarat franchise who was the only IPL franchise with no official name finally announced the same on Wednesday. The announcement from the franchise provoked light-hearted Twitter banter between Gujarat Titans and their neighbouring franchise Rajasthan franchise. As the Gujarat franchise posted a tweet revealing the name, Rajasthan Royals were quick to welcome their compatriots by commenting "Welcome padosi." While, Pandya-led franchise also responded to Rajasthan's comment by tweeting, "Thank you! Kuch bhi chahiye toh ? bajana?" suggesting to enable the notifications of franchise Twitter to handle.
Check out the social media banter here:
Even franchise's newly appointed skipper Hardik Pandya quickly responded to the franchise tweet by resharing the post with a caption, "Kem Cho, Gujarat," asking how are you Gujarat? Both the teams are set to participate in the high-intense bidding war which is slated to take place in Bengaluru on 12 & 13 February. Earlier, the Rajasthan franchise retained the services of Sanju Samson, wicket-keeper batsman, Jos Buttler (batsman) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (batsman). Hardik Pandya who will be leading the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022, is a four-time IPL winner having played an integral role in making Mumbai Indians (MI) the most successful franchise in the league. The 2022 season will be the first time since making his IPL debut in 2015 that he will not play for the Rohit Sharma-led side in the cash-rich league.
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