Chennai Super Kings slumped to back-to-back defeats in IPL 2026 after Punjab Kings got the better of them by five wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, April 3.
Ravichandran Ashwin, one of the all-time legends of CSK, questioned some of the current team management's decision-making and tactics. On Friday, they failed to defend a 210-run target, as Punjab romped home in 18.4 overs.
CSK left Jamie Overton and Matthew Short out of the side following the eight-wicket defeat in their opening
game against the Rajasthan Royals and played Friday's encounter with just two overseas players. They also opted not to bowl spin-bowling all-rounder Prashant Veer despite the other bowlers struggling against Punjab's fearless batting approach. Veer batted at No. 7 in the game and scored an unbeaten six runs off seven balls.
Ashwin opined that the team management missed out on some big names at the IPL 2026 mini-auction last year, despite entering with the second-highest purse. The former India off-spinner also questioned the underutilisation of uncapped cricketers Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer, who bagged INR 14.20 crore contracts.
"CSK played Prashant Veer, and did not give him even one over. Remember, during the mini-auction, when there were options like David Miler, Jason Holder, Lungi Ngidi, Cooper Connolly. There were so many such options that you needed, even then you got two young players. I give a thumbs up for that, but they should be given a chance, right?" R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"How will we know their talent without seeing them? It is surprising, and a little bit of a concern. Jamie Overton who played well in the last match was benched, then Matt Short was also dropped, there were only two overseas players. All of this does not happen in the CSK that I know," he added.
Chennai find themselves at the foot of the table with two defeats from as many games and a net run rate of -2.562. The road doesn't get any easier for them as they travel to the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium for their next game against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, set to be played on Sunday, April 5.
