Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were able to acquire virtually every player they wanted at the IPL 2025 auction as well. He also added that Deepak Chahar was probably the only player they failed to buy and that the disappointment was shown on their head coach Stephen Fleming’s face as well. However, CSK had released Chahar ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. Although they tried to reacquire him, the Mumbai Indians (MI) outbid them, buying him for ₹9.25 crore as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “They got really lucky in the auction because they got the players they wanted. They wanted Devon Conway. They got him cheap. They wanted Rachin Ravindra. They used the RTM for him. Ravichandran Ashwin – you might get to hear the age-old ‘Come on Ash’ again. They ran after Noor Ahmad for a long time. Was ₹10 crore justified, but they said they definitely needed him.”
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
“Then they bought Sam Curran. I thought that was an absolute steal. The one person they couldn’t buy was Deepak Chahar. From Fleming’s face, it seemed like he was about to cry. It seemed like his girlfriend had ditched him, a very old relationship had broken, and she ran away with someone. It means they have so much commitment to get the old team together,” Chopra further added.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also picked the Chennai Super Kings’ spin attack as one of their strengths as well.
“Look at their spin-bowling department. If a team has Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad, they will choke the opposition. This is 12 overs of different kinds of spin – phenomenal. Don’t be surprised if you get spin-friendly pitches in Chennai. When you prepare spin-friendly pitches, you want a lot of Indians in batting. They also have that, from Ruturaj Gaikwad till MS Dhoni, they have a lot of Indians. In fact, if you try to make their XI, three of their overseas players are seen more in the bowling category. They are almost ready to play with just one overseas batter,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
