IPL 2025 auction – CSK – Stephen Fleming on R Ashwin – ‘We can use him in a number of ways’

“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.”

“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.”