An unfamiliar scene unfolded at the Chennai Super Kings auction table in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. For the first time in ages, none of the officials or the coach consulted the team’s icon MS Dhoni, the 44-year-old veteran, during the minibreaks nor were on a call with him during the auction as the team went in with changed strategy of breaking the bank for young blood — uncapped Indian players. Dhoni wasn’t micro-managing the auction from afar but had given the go-ahead for blooding youngsters after watching preseason auction trials of players in Chennai. CSK had ended up with the wooden spoon last season, it was time for a change in personnel.
Having walked in with a purse of Rs 43.40 crore to strengthen the squad, CSK bagged 21-year-old allrounder Prashant Veer, a like-for-like replacement for Ravindra Jadeja, and wicket-keeper Kartik Sharma, a 19-year-old. Both going for Rs 14.20 crore each, the most ever paid for uncapped players.
In an era where franchises were unearthing explosive batsmen, by buying experienced players who seemed like safe bets CSK seemed stuck in a different era. While most teams have been lauded for developing young talents, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming had once famously said in 2018: “Here to win trophies, not develop young players.” That philosophy has changed.
In Tuesday’s auction, CSK had targeted Australian allrounder Cameron Green but Kolkata Knight Riders acquired his services. “We couldn’t go beyond Rs 25 crore for Green because we feared we could miss out on getting the young talents. We were able to get the youngsters whom we wanted. There has been a sea change in how IPL is played. We have to adapt,” CSK’s managing director Kasi Viswanathan said.
Rewind to what coach Stephen Fleming said last year and it is clear that CSK have pressed the reset button.
March 28, 2025: After questions were raised about their timid approach and lack of firepower, this is what Fleming had to say. “I don’t understand this question. Just because we don’t swing from ball one and have a little bit of luck go away, we’ll see at the end.”
April 25, 2025: After seven defeats in nine matches, Fleming had this to say about the make-up of the team: “I will watch with interest to see towards the end what the highest run-scorers and what teams are doing well, because that’s part of the reflection as you move forward.”
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May 19, 2025: Now at the bottom of the table, CSK gave debuts to Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis and Urvil Patel, who all provided firepower at the top. When asked if their strategy is shifting, Fleming said, “No, I don’t care how old players are. I do like experience though, experience has served us really well over the proud years that we’ve had.”
Cut to December 16, Abu Dhabi. CSK successfully bid for Mhatre (18 years), Kartik (19 years), Prashant (20 years), Noor Ahmad (20 years), Brevis (22 years), who will all be part of the playing XI come next season. For a franchise that made play-offs every season between 2008-2019 the last six seasons have been a roller coaster ride. While they did win two titles in 2021 and 2023, the last season definitely seems to have shaken their core. “As the game has evolved, we might have been a little bit slow to evolve with it,” Fleming admitted.
CSK successfully bid for Mhatre (18 years), Kartik (19 years), Prashant (20 years), Noor Ahmad (20 years), Brevis (22 years), who will all be part of the playing XI come next season. (BCCI Photo)
So much so that, CSK had a five-day trial programme at their high performance centre in September where around 40-50 uncapped players were called up. Kartik, a swashbuckling batsman whose hitting capabilities even got former England captain Kevin Pietersen curious. CSK fast bowler Deepak Chahar had tipped off the team about Kartik’s potential. While Fleming flew in from New Zealand to oversee the camp personally, performance analyst AR Srikkanth played a key role.
Srikkanth, who was prized away from Kolkata Knight Riders a couple of seasons ago, has a reputation of being a top talent scout — from Sunil Narine, Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan. Last season when CSK was struggling it was Srikkanth who made the franchise bring in Brevis while fending off interest from Delhi Capitals.
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“We witnessed at the start of last year, and certainly the year before that my view used to be that experience was going to win, but now you have this fearless athlete that’s been brought up on T20 cricket and has a skillset that’s mouthwatering, and they just have no fear about what environment they need to exhibit these skills,” Fleming conceded.
More importantly, Fleming has noticed a sea of change in the difference in attitude among the new-age batsmen. “It’s just that mental aspect. Sometimes an experienced player can get caught up in himself, trying to work out where the game’s going and what’s going on. But these T20 babies, they’re just very free and they only know one way. So there’s real appeal,” he said.
Time will tell if the ‘T20 babies’ can deliver on the big stage.