Ravichandran Ashwin picks his CSK XI for IPL 2026; leaves out joint-costliest uncapped player

Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has picked his XI for the five-time champions ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 edition. While Ashwin included left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Prashant Veer, who fetched a deal of ₹14.20 crore, he excluded Karthik Sharma, who went for the same amount.

Both Veer and Karthik set the auction on fire, setting the record for the highest bid for an uncapped player in IPL auction history. Veer has played only nine T20s and taken 12 wickets, with a batting strike rate of 167.16. With Ravindra Jadeja traded to the Rajasthan Royals, the franchise is seemingly seeing the 20-year-old as the star all-rounder's long-term replacement.

Kartik, meanwhile, is a promising keeper-batter and has a strike-rate of 162.92 in 12 T20 games. As a 19-year-old, he can also be a long-term prospect for CSK.

While answering a question from CSK's official account on X about his best playing XI the franchise can put, the off-spinner claimed they can play Veer at six. As for Kartik, Ashwin reckons he can feature as an impact player, depending upon the combination.

Ravichandran Ashwin's CSK's playing XI: Ayush Mhatre, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Prashant Veer, MS Dhoni, Akeal Hosein/Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed, Nathan Ellis, Noor Ahmed.

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"You have this fearless athlete that's been brought up on T20 cricket" - CSK coach

Stephen Fleming. (Image Credits: Getty)

CSK head coach Stephen Fleming suggested that the notion that only experience wouls win the tournament might be fading away. Having shelled out big amounts on uncapped players, the former New Zealand skipper reckons the youngsters have no baggage due to which they play fearlessly. He said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:

"I just wonder if we're now seeing the product of T20 coming to the fore. 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. So that is one thing to acknowledge, that T20 babies are now coming through. 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 young players these days, they're just very free and they only know one way."

The Super Kings finished at the bottom of the points table in IPL 2025.

Edited by Sankalp Srivastava