IPL 2018, MI vs KXIP: KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya Want To Bring Football's Jersey-Swap Ritual To Cricket

Swapping of jerseys after a match is a common phenomenon in football, but India opener KL Rahul and all-rounder Hardik Pandya are keen to bring the tradition to cricket. After the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 match between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Mumbai Indians (MI) in Mumbai on Wednesday, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul were seen swapping their jerseys in front of the Wankhede Stadium crowd.

Revealing the reason of swapping jerseys with Pandya, Rahul, who hit a blistering 94 off 60 balls against Mumbai Indians, said: "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.

Play hard, play fair! Respect comes first.

Super knock, by a super player and an even better friend @klrahul11 #MIvKXIP @mipaltan @lionsdenkxip pic.twitter.com/dNvF7BUqn0

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) May 17, 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 said during a video interview with iplt20.com.

Despite Rahul's heroics, Kings XI Punjab suffered a three-run defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians.

With this win, Mumbai Indians have moved to fourth position on the points table. The Rohit Sharma-led side have 12 points in 13 matches.

The star of the Mumbai Indians' win was Jasprit Bumrah who returned with brilliant figures of 3 for 15 in his allotted 4 overs. His spell also included the important wicket of KL Rahul.

Bumrah dismissed Rahul when Kings XI Punjab required 20 off 9 balls to win. Rahul's innings was studded with 10 fours and three sixes.

The defeat left Kings XI Punjab on 12 points with one game to go.