Gujarat Lions were left to deal with a very unusual selection news when skipper Suresh Raina revealed that Aaron Finch will be missing the game against Mumbai Indians due to a reason that sounded absolutely bizarre.
“Finchy misses out, unfortunately, his kitbag didn’t arrive. Jason Roy comes in place of him,” said Raina.
The fans quickly began constructing their opinions surrounding it and many were reminded of a similar incident that took place way back in the year 2009 when off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also misplaced his kit bag ahead of the Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians fixture.
The second season of the IPL, which was held in South Africa as the government did not permit the event due to ongoing election date clashes, was the first time when a player had his kit misplaced and walked into the dressing room completely clueless. Ashwin was set to play his first IPL match.
One curious fan made sure he confirmed the fact and approached the cricketer on twitter.
Hey @ashwinravi99 .Kit bag not arriving happened in your debut IPL game right? you neither batted or bowled but played. can you confirm? https://t.co/1ucFEtYXCO
— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) April 16, 2017
Ashwin was amused and made a quick reply to the follower.
Rofl
— Ashwin ?? (@ashwinravi99) April 16, 2017
what is the verdict? true or was it wrong. think it was albie morkel!!!
— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) April 16, 2017
You are right, it was me.
— Ashwin ?? (@ashwinravi99) April 17, 2017
Often baggage gets lost or arrives late during match days due to issues with the staff. But, skipper Dhoni reacted to the matter with the level of bizarreness. Unlike Finch, Ashwin played in the match but only as a fielder. He did not bat nor he bowled as Dhoni chose not to rest him.
Fans wondered whether why he didn’t play using someone else’s equipment. It was being discussed in the fan circle that the modern day cricketers are too wedded to their own customised equipment.
A few also gave an example of Shahid Afridi to justify their mild judgmental jibe at Finch. It is a well-known story that the Afridi used a bat borrowed from Waqar Younis which was gifted to the fast bowler by Sachin Tendulkar to hit the historic 37 ball 100 against Sri Lanka.
However, it has to be noted that these days cricketer are firmly tied up by contractual terms which disallow them use other equipment apart from the sponsors. Therefore, when such situation arises where the kit bag is misplaced or lost during the match day, a player is forced to miss the game with no alternative available.
While Ms Dhoni opted to use Ashwin only as a fielder, Raina felt that it would be more beneficial to replace the Australian hard hitter and therefore rested Finch.
A few trolls also made its way.
Security cameras show that Jason Roy hid Aaron Finch's kit. #IPL
— . (@shan_daar) April 16, 2017
Should've told us Aaron Finch, we had a kit bag to loan in our neighbouringMumbai studio.. #FindFinch'sBag #GLvMI pic.twitter.com/yzvVHhVHbA
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) April 16, 2017
RT Sarcasticdudee: Aaron Finch ruled out because he has lost the Kit bag…
Jason Roy replaced him and I suspect he must have misplaced Fi…
— فاتح ځواک (@Fatih_Zwak) April 16, 2017