New Delhi, India
England's star cricketer Joe Root was bought by Rajasthan Royals (RR) during IPL 2023 auction on Friday (December 23). He was picked during the accelerated auction after he went unsold initially.
The 31-year-old only attracted the Rajasthan-based franchise as he was sold at his base price of â¹1 crore in the absence of bids from other teams. At Rajasthan Royals, Root will play alongside his England teammate Jos Buttler.
This is the first time Root has been purchased by an IPL team. Previously he appeared in the 2018 IPL auction but remained unsold. After that, he never featured in the IPL auction, until now.
The English cricketer is regarded as one of the top batters in international cricket currently having played 127 Tests, 158 ODIs, and 32 T20Is so far.
With above-average stats in the T20I format as his team might expect him to replicate similar performances. He has played 32 games and has scored 893 runs at an average of 35.72. He has also scored five fifties in the shortest format of cricket.
During a recent interview with Daily Mail, Root talked about IPL 2013 and the mini-auction. He said, "I would certainly debate going into the IPL draw quite seriously and hope to get exposure in that tournament. It would be great to get involved in the continuous enormity of each game and how much it means. I always used to get rested for the T20s and I feel like I got alienated from the format because I had not played enough of it."
Royals, here's the man you have to Root for. ? pic.twitter.com/GeuvNrYVU4
â Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) December 23, 2022
Joe hota hai, achhe ke liye hota hai. ?pic.twitter.com/5sgSp5zKzl
â Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) December 23, 2022
Jos too happy rn. ? pic.twitter.com/Ri4ep9iKUi
â Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) December 23, 2022
"You can feel like you are getting left behind a little bit. Now, the next couple of years, might be a good time to explore playing a little bit more of that format and see how far I can take that side of my game," Root had added.
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