MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) handed a debut to the young pacer Rajvardhan Hangargekar in their second match of the IPL 2023 tournament after spending a year on the bench in IPL 2022.
Many expected the young pacer, who was part of India’s 2022 U19 World Cup winning team, will get a game straight away in the Chennai Super Kings franchise, but he was been given a chance to learn from other seniors and despite CSK losing match after match last year, MS Dhoni didn’t bring on the youngster onto the field.
Thanks to injuries to several CSK bowlers, the management gave Hangargekar a debut in the first match of the IPL 2023 between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans and the bowler received his debut cap from none other than captain MS Dhoni.
Recently, CSK shared a video of the very first meet and greet that the young bowler attended along with captain MS Dhoni and had some fun conversations with the crowd and even Dhoni pulled his leg a bit.
Check out here:
Extra Love and Banter! That's how Raj’s first ever meet and greet went by! #WhistlePodu #Yellove ?? @TheIndiaCements pic.twitter.com/nfJdS7UVcX
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 10, 2023
Hangargekar has played two games thus far and picked three wickets with a best of 3/36.
Who Is Rajvardhan Hangargekar?
India Under-19 World Cup star Rajvardhan Hangargekar stole the limelight after he smashed a hat-trick of sixes against Ireland in their Group B match in the recently-concluded Under-19 World Cup 2022 in Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago.
Rajvardhan hails from Maharashtra and made his T20 debut for Maharashtra in the 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on January 16, 2021. He also made his List A debut for Maharashtra in the 2020–21 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 21 February 2021.
He entered the IPL 2022 auction with a base price of INR 30 lakhs, and was finally bought by CSK for INR 1.5 crores after a battle with Mumbai Indians.