Meet Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal's new RR teammate 'Ferrari' ahead of IPL 2023

Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal recently introduced their Rajasthan Royals (RR) teammate Donovan Ferreira as "Ferrari" ahead of IPL 2023.

In an Instagram story, Ashwin said:

"Ashwin, Chahal, Ferrari."

RR will begin their IPL 2023 campaign against SRH on Sunday, April 2.

For the uninitiated, Ferreira was bought by RR for Rs 50 lakh at the IPL 2023 auction. The 24-year-old plays for Joburg Super Kings in SA20. So far, he has played 37 T20s, scoring 703 runs and picking up 10 wickets.

The right-hander recently smashed a century in a first-class game for the Titans against the Warriors. Interestingly, he is a wicketkeeper besides being a part-time bowler.

Unfortunately, Ferreira is likely to warm the bench in the IPL due to the presence of specialist wicketkeeper batters in the form of RR captain Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler.

Meanwhile, Ashwin will look to look to translate his recent form with Team India in the IPL. He was adjudged Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The off-spinner was the leading wicket-taker in the four-match Test series, which India won 2-1. The 36-year-old was retained by RR for Rs 5 crore.

Chahal, on the other hand, will look to deliver in the T20 league following his lean patch for Team India ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup. In 2023, he has picked up only four wickets in as many T20Is and three scalps in two ODIs.

The leg-spinner, who was retained by RR for Rs 6.5 crore, will look for another breakthrough season after scalping 27 wickets in 17 games last edition of the IPL. He is the joint-leading wicket-taker among spinners with the Lucknow Super Giants’ Amit Mishra (166 wickets) in the IPL.

RR squad for IPL 2023

Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Abdul PA, Akash Vashisht, Joe Root, Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa.

RR will begin their IPL 2023 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday, April 2.