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Doesn’t matter who picks me, all I need is new challenge: Ashwin

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Ravichandran Ashwin

Mumbai: With the Indian Premier League (IPL) players’ draft scheduled for December 15, India’s star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday said he is looking forward to a new challenge in the cash-rich league, adding that it doesn’t matter to him which franchise picks him.

Sanjeev Goenka’s ‘New Rising’ won the bid for the Pune franchisee while Intex won for Rajkot after a reverse bidding process held in New Delhi on December 8.

Goenka’s company will shell out Rs.16 crores while Intex will pay Rs.10 crores to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

“In three days time, Pune or Rajkot will be my new summer destination. Looking forward to a new beginning and more challenges,” Ashwin tweeted.

“If I don’t make it to both of these teams, I will go into the auction. Does not matter who picks me, all I need is new challenges. No stagnating,” the Chennai-born spinner said.

Till the 2015 IPL season, Ashwin represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and played under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

But after the suspension of IPL franchises CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in July this year from the league for two years by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee in the spot fixing and betting scandal that rocked the Twenty20 tournament in 2013, two new teams were introduced for two years by the country’s cricket board.

Pune will be given the choice to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders (negative bids) to buy the new team for two years.

CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving their suspension.

The ninth edition of the IPL is scheduled from April 9 to May 29 next year.

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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia

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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.

Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.

Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”

Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.

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