Fleming discusses Ashwin's versatility: 'We can utilize him in a variety of roles'

The head coach of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Stephen Fleming, joyfully welcomed R Ashwin back to the franchise, describing his return as a "homecoming." Ashwin was successfully bought for a hefty sum of INR 9.75 crore (US$1.16 million approx.) at the IPL 2025 auction held in Jeddah. Ashwin had previously been a part of CSK from 2009 to 2015. In order to secure his return, CSK had to outbid competing teams such as Rajasthan Royals (RR), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in a heated four-way bidding war.

The franchise also signed Afghanistan's left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad for INR 10 crore (US$1.19 million approx.). Mumbai Indians (MI), too, were interested in Noor but stopped bidding when CSK raised the price to INR 5 crore. Gujarat Titans (GT) exercised the right-to-match option but when CSK raised the bid, they backed off. Having retained Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the auction, CSK look all set to stifle teams on their spin-friendly home pitches.

"It's a bit of a homecoming for Ashwin, but he's a world-class bowler," Fleming said. "It's not so much the price - you look at how someone fits in, and there's an emotional attachment for Ashwin with Chennai, so it's a nice fit. He has still got a very good skillset; his numbers are fantastic. He's obviously towards the latter part of his career, but the experience he brings, he's handy with the bat, and we think we can use him in a number of ways.

"The Noor Ahmad pick was looking more at the middle [overs] to attack. So if we do get turning conditions, then we've got an opportunity to keep taking wickets. We've got [Matheesha] Pathirana at the end, which is the death aspect.

"We've just identified that the way the game is going, your bowling has to be really specific, and you have to take wickets to slow teams down. And if you're just trying to contain, then some of the hitting power of players these days will just take the game away from you. So we've tried to be smart with our options given our retained players and add some variation, which maybe we lacked a little bit last year."

CSK also bought back the New Zealand pair of Devon Conway (INR 6.25 crore) and Rachin Ravindra (INR 4 crore). Fleming was asked if he was surprised not to see more tussle for them, especially Ravindra, who was the leading run-getter for New Zealand during their recent 3-0 Test series win in India.

"Yeah, we were," he said. "We thought Rachin, given his success in the Test series that often counts, the performances leading up to an IPL… but we obviously experienced the IPL with him last year, and to pick him up at a what I think is a low price, and continue his development. He could be a player with that skill set just same as Jadeja at the moment, but looking forward, there could be an opportunity. So if his development continues, he's a very silky player, and we're really happy to have him at that price. We're happy to have him full stop."