Follow UsNever before have Chennai Super Kings endured such an early exit from the competition, with eight losses in their first ten fixtures in the Indian Premier League 2025. The five-time IPL champions became the first team to be eliminated from the playoffs for the 2025 season, and such a horrendous season is set to be followed by some tough decisions.
One of them would surround whether the franchise would want to retain Ravichandran Ashwin, for whom they shelled out INR 9.75 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction. As it turned out, the off-spinner barely made it to the playing XI, and when he did, he was unimpressive, with five wickets @44.60.
Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar reckoned that the five-time IPL champions should consider parting ways with Ashwin and their other big retention, Matheesha Pathirana.
“Whether they retain Ashwin or not is going to be another big question because that's where the money is locked in. If they want to free up their purse a little bit, in the knowledge that they might not want to use Ashwin as much as they have used in this particular season,” Bangar said on Jiohotstar, reported Times of India.
“So, probably out of those big-ticket players, those are the two players (Ashwin and Pathirana) that they might just think of whether they want to keep them or maybe find a replacement for them,” he added.
On the other hand, Harbhajan Singh, who had played for the franchise previously, critiqued them, stating that CSK should have used Ashwin’s experience for their home clash against the Punjab Kings on April 30 (Wednesday).
“Chennai didn’t select the team based on conditions. Had Noor Ahmad, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja played together against Punjab Kings, Chennai Super Kings could have won the match. You didn’t pay INR 10 crore for Ashwin to bench him. I don’t know why he is not playing, but it seems he might have fought with someone,” he said.
Harbhajan compared Ashwin's situation to the other flops, stating that they are still playing despite putting on ordinary performances.
“He is not the only one who hasn’t performed. Others are still playing despite their ordinary performances, but Ashwin is out of the team. He should have played against Punjab, as the ball was spinning.”