Foes turn teammates: Hooda & Krunal, Ashwin & Jos

Ravichandran Ashwin, Jos Buttler, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda

In his own words, all-rounder Deepak Hooda was left "demoralised, depressed and under pressure" after a well-documented spat with his Baroda state team captain, Krunal Pandya.

England's swashbuckling batter Jos Buttler and India's premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had not seen eye-to-eye for a long time owing to a controversial run out episode during the 2019 edition of the lucrative league.

However, the 2022 IPL mega auction, besides forcing the 10 franchises to break the banks in order to get their favourite players, has done another thing: turn these foes into teammates.

Ashwin joined Buttler in Rajasthan Royals, who spent Rs 5 crore to get the services of the seasoned off-spinner.

Ashwin, who had appeared for the Delhi Capitals in the 2020 and 2021 editions of the tournament, will thus have a reunion with Buttler - one of the three players retained by the RR franchise alongside captain Sanju Samson and Indian youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The incident involving Ashwin and Buttler made headlines during RR's home match against Kings XI Punjab [now Punjab Kings] in Jaipur on March 25, when the former ran out the Englishman at the non-strikers end after the batter had backed up too far.

Following the incident, Ashwin faced criticism from current and former English cricketers.

Taking a dig at Buttler a year after the incident, Ashwin had cheekily shared a picture from the incident to advise people to not "wander out" when the first Coronavirus-forced lockdown was imposed. However, both seem to have "moved on" from that bitter episode, and in a few weeks' time, the two will be sharing the dressing room.

Same will be the case with Hooda and Krunal. Last year, Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) received a setback before the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament as their all-rounder Hooda left the bio-bubble after a spat with Baroda captain Krunal.

Hooda went to the new IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 5.75 crore, while Krunal was bought for Rs 8.25 crore after Gujarat, Mumbai Indians, and Chennai Super Kings pulled out.

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