Chennai Super Kings (CSK) roped in two uncapped players, Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma, both for INR 14.20 crore each. Never in the history of the cash-rich league have CSK invested INR 28.40 crore in two uncapped players. This marked a change in the DNA of the franchise. Once known for being a team of veterans, the five-time winners now have many youngsters in their squad.
Stephen Fleming, CSK’s head coach, was asked about this change in the team’s template. When asked why, the former New Zealand cricketer replied: “As the game has evolved, we might have been a little slow to evolve with it. Only halfway through the [2025] tournament did we make a big shift, and you saw from the players we brought in as reserves that there was a change in what we needed to do.”
CSK’s shift in mindset was evident midway through last season when they acquired Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel and Dewald Brevis. All three youngsters performed well whenever they got opportunities and were retained. Fleming then spoke about the influx of youngsters who suit the T20 format.
“Sometimes you can hold on to theories and philosophies because of past success, but we identified that we needed to shift, and the work we did halfway through last season has enabled us to continue in that direction,” he added.
Unlike last season, no seasoned T20 batters were bought by the Super Kings. Along with Prashant and Kartik, they also signed Sarfaraz Khan and Rahul Chahar. Akeal Hosein, Matthew Short, Matt Henry and Zakary Foulkes were the overseas options picked in the auction.
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