Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was signed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 9.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction, marking his return to the franchise after a decade. However, he hasn’t lived up to the expectations so far, having claimed five wickets in seven matches at an economy rate of 9.29.
CSK suffered a crushing nine-wicket defeat in their last fixture against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium, where Ashwin returned with the figures of 4-0-25-0.
Although Ashwin managed to keep the MI batters quiet, former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth wasn’t impressed with Ashwin’s bowling in the game where CSK was trying to defend 176.
“What is Ashwin doing? He has turned all defensive. He is not looking to take wickets. He is like let me get through these four overs. He never went for wicket-taking. Just bowling safe,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel ‘Cheeky Cheeka’.
When his son Anirudh interrupted to say that it was at least good to see Ashwin bowl lot more off-spin against MI, Srikkanth reiterated his point.
“What was the idea of taking Ashwin today? To get two wickets and win the match. But what did he do? He bowled safely in the powerplay. It didn’t matter to CSK at all. MI also were sensible, taking singles off him. You have to understand the match situation, IPL situation – and bowl accordingly,” Srikkanth added.
In his post-match presser, CSK’s stand-in captain MS Dhoni emphasized the need to get a good team for next season.
“What will be important for us is to get the right combination for next year. You don’t want too many players getting changed, what will be important is to try and qualify, but if not get a secured 11 for next year and come back strong,” Dhoni said.
Sharing his thoughts on the same, Srikkanth said: “Dhoni has already started talking about next season. That means he is pretty frustrated with this team’s performance. He was right in saying that the guys have to own up and do something fantastic. Where CSK lost is was in the auction itself. If you select Sam Curran, Overton, Tripathi, Hooda, how can you win matches?”
Having lost six of their eight matches, CSK are staring at a first-round exit from the IPL 2025. They are currently holding the last spot on the 10-team points table.
