Rahul said he asked Hardik to give him his jersey and Hardik also wanted his jersey.
Hardik Pandya (L) KL Rahul (R) (Photo: Twitter/IPL)
Kings XI Punjab’s wicket-keeper batsman Lokesh Rahul and Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya swapped jerseys with each-other after the host thrashed visitors by three runs at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Talking about the incident, Punjab’s opener Lokesh Rahul said by swapping jerseys with the member of the opponent team, he hopes to bring this tradition in cricket.
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“We’ve seen this happening a lot in football. Obviously, Hardik and I are good friends. I felt it would be nice to collect some jerseys and bring that tradition in cricket,” Rahul told IPL’s official website.
Explaining the incident, Rahul said he asked Hardik to give him his jersey and Hardik also wanted his jersey.
The beauty of #VIVOIPL. Check out their jerseys. pic.twitter.com/BBGCHleJEE
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 16, 2018
“We didn’t speak about this earlier. As we were talking, I said ‘give me your jersey’. He wanted my jersey too. So we exchanged it. It’s a nice, nice thing,” Rahul added.
“We play really hard, aggressive. We all want to win the game. Even though we play 300 days of cricket together, these two months, there is no friendship once we step onto the field. I want to take him down, he wants to get my wicket,” said the Punjab opener.
“That’s how the IPL is. It’s not just between me and him, all the eight teams compete hard between one another. That’s what made this tournament the biggest in the world,” KL Rahul concluded.
Swapping jersey with the players of the rival team has been a long-time tradition in football but it was the first occasion when players of rival team swapped jerseys after a cricket match. It is believed that tradition has started in 1931 after a football match between France and England. After that, the gesture became more prevalent, especially in big tournaments like FIFA World Cup.
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