Former India captain and Delhi Capitals mentor Sourav Ganguly said that their franchise will be happy to have senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in their ranks for the upcoming Indian Premier League provided Kings XI Punjab releases him.

Ashwin led KXIP for a couple of seasons without much success and there has been news that the Preity Zinta co-owned franchise is ready to trade him off.

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"We would be more than happy to have Ashwin if KXIP is ready to release him," said Ganguly, who was in the national capital for a promotional event, sounding hopeful that the Delhi franchise can close the deal.

Ashwin has played 28 IPL games for KXIP, taking 25 wickets and scoring 146 runs which at best could be termed modest.

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Ravichandran Ashwin and his stint with KXIP

Ravichandran Ashwin was roped in by Kings XI Punjab and appointed as captain in the 2018 edition of the IPL. He was retained by the franchise in the 2019 edition as well. In 2018, Punjab were off to a dream start. In fact, they had topped the points table in the first half. However, the results turned out to be contrasting in the second half and some crucial losses meant that they were knocked out without reaching the playoffs. In the next season, the Ravichandran Ashwin-led outfit started their campaign with a win, then they did manage a few wins but had once again lost many crunch games. Towards the end, those losses once again hampered their progress in the tournament. Nonetheless, Ravichandran Ashwin was in the news for 'Mankading' Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler during their campaign opener. Later, Ravichandran Ashwin was also fined a huge amount of money for his team's slow over-rate in one of the matches. On the international level, Ravichandran Ashwin only plays in Tests as he has been overlooked in the limited-overs due to the emergence of wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.

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Sourav Ganguly and his successful association with Delhi Capitals

Sourav Ganguly finally made his presence in an IPL team after so many years. Dada was the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders since IPL's inception in 2008 to 2010. In 2011, Sourav Ganguly was roped in by the now-defunct Pune Warriors India. Sourav Ganguly was named as a replacement for an injured Ashish Nehra. Ganguly was then appointed as captain of the franchise in the following edition which turned out to be his last one. Sourav Ganguly then went on to announce his retirement from all forms of cricket later that year. In the 2019 edition, the new Delhi franchise Delhi Capitals was established. Delhi Daredevils had changed their name to Delhi Capitals in the previous edition. Delhi Capitals then went on to bring to of the successful captains in world cricket- Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly. Ponting was appointed as the team's head coach while Sourav Ganguly was the team advisor. The franchise had a successful outing in their first season as they finished third. Sourav Ganguly is also a  successful commentator and is the current president of Bengal Cricket Association (CAB). 

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(With PTI Inputs)