IPL 2022: When MI And CSK Were Fighting For Me In The Auction, It Was A Great Moment - Rajvardhan Hangargekar

India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning player Rajvardhan Hangargekar revealed that he was enjoying the IPL 2022 mega auction, especially when two of the most successful franchises in the league’s history, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) were going head-to-head in a bidding war for him.

Eventually, it was CSK who won the race, which also happens to be his and his late father’s favourite team. Playing under MS Dhoni is a dream for many but Hangargekar will get to experience it first-hand when the season begins this April.

“Winning the U-19 World Cup was a really good moment for all of us, this thing we will cherish for our entire life.

“Everyone wants to play in the IPL, by the time my name came up in the auction, that was the moment I got excited about. When MI and CSK were fighting it out for me in the auction, that was a great moment for me.”

“I have always been a die-hard fan of MS Dhoni, my father used to like CSK a lot, he really loved Dhoni and he always wanted me to play for CSK. I am really happy to play with his franchise,” Hangargekar said in a video posted on the IPL website.

As exciting as the prospect of playing for CSK is, Hangargekar insisted that he is keen on learning and asking anything that comes to mind, and making the most of the opportunity he has in front of him. Getting starstruck is normal for youngsters but they need to stay in the moment and soak in anything and everything the seniors have to say.

“He can teach me about the mindset, I will ask him about things because this chance won’t come that often. My mindset is to play like West Indies cricketers, I like to bowl fast and I like to hit big sixes. I have been working on my strength, I just want to watch the ball and hit it beyond the boundary,” he added.

CSK squad after IPL 2022 mega auction

MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma.

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