Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming explained the rationale behind spending whooping amounts on a couple of uncapped Indian players at the IPL 2026 auction. Two players – Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer – created history as they became the most expensive uncapped Indian players in the history of the IPL auction. CSK’s head coach made a honest admission over their auction strategy after finishing at the bottom of the points table for the first-time ever in the history of the league in IPL 2025.
CSK coach’s honest admission before IPL 2026
Speaking on JioStar during the break between the IPL 2026 auction, Fleming explained why the team chased the two uncapped players for a whooping amount. The five-time champions’ strategy at the mega auction was flawed after they recruited veterans like Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar – all of whom failed to fire in IPL 2025. As a result, CSK’s middle-order was perhaps the weakest among all teams, leading to a historic bottom-placed finish in 2025.
“Kartik Sharma did some trial with us, we have been watching him for some time. Will give it to the scout team. Veer, given that we need that type of skill set with trading Jadeja for Samson. We identified him as a good talent going forward and filling that spot,” Fleming said.
However, it was only midway through IPL 2025 that CSK realized that they need to move on from being an ‘old age home’ to a budding young team. This was proved by signing the likes of Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis and Urvil Patel mid-season. The additions proved to be too late as the damage to CSK had already been done and they had no choice but to crumble.
While CSK did let go of a host of experienced players including Devon Conway, Tripathi, Shankar, Hooda among others, they invested heavily on uncapped Indian stars like Kartik and Veer, signalling what was to come in the future.
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Crazy CSK! Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer become most expensive uncapped players at IPL auction
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