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The Chennai Super Kings think tank, along with coach Stephen Fleming, at the IPL 2026 auctions. (PHOTO: CSK via X)
With Chennai Super Kings breaking the bank for uncapped Indian players Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma in the IPL mini-auction spending a record sum of Rs 14.20 crore each on the two youngsters, it also meant that the duo would be the most expensive Indian uncapped players in the IPL auction history till present. While Veer comes from Uttar Pradesh, Sharma hails from Rajasthan and the duo joined the likes of youngsters Ayush Mhatre and Sameer Rizvi in the Chennai Super Kings squad and Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Felling has termed the duo as ‘T20 babies’ and has shared how the youngsters have grown up the format in present times.
“These are T20 babies. They’ve grown up with the format. They just express their skills. There’s no fear. Sometimes experienced players get caught trying to work out where the game’s going. So there’s real appeal, especially when the game is being played faster and faster. I think it’s a byproduct of T20 being around for some time now, and we’re all learning, being involved with it, and the faster it gets, these young players seem to play better.” Fleming said post the IPL mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
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Prior to Tuesday, Avesh Khan held the record for the most expensive Indian uncapped player in an IPL auction. Khan was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for a sum of Rs 10 crore in the IPL 2022 auction. Earlier in the 2021 IPL auction, all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham had become the most expensive Indian uncapped player to be sold in IPL auction with Chennai Super Kings spending Rs 9.25 crore for the all-rounder. Sharing about the change in CSK strategy, where they now focussing on an increased number of younger players in the team, Fleming spoke about how the team might have been a little slow to evolve with the idea and how the team management thought about the need to shift. “As the game has evolved, we might have been a little bit slow to evolve with it. Sometimes you can hang on to theories and philosophies because of past success, but we identified that we needed to shift, and partly the work that we did last season, halfway through, has enabled us to continue that work done,” Fleming added.
Veer, a left-arm spinner and middle-order batsman, has scored 112 runs at a strike rate of 167.16 and has claimed 12 wickets in 12 T20s in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In the UP T20 League, Veer amassed 320 runs apart from eight wickets in 10 matches. Son of ‘Shiksha Mitr’ (Primary Teacher) who earned around Rs 12,000 per month, Veer fetched a price of Rs 14.20 crore in the IPL mini auction, an amount 47.3 times his base price of Rs 30 lakh. “I was just hoping that someone would raise their paddle, it took me some time to process that I have gone to CSK for 14 crores. Sapna lag raha tha sab, I told Rinku (Singh) bhai ke pinch karo ek baar. My family has not seen so much money in their life, this will change things for good. What I will do with the money, yeh sochney ka kaam gharwalon ka hai, mera nahi,” Veer told The Indian Express on Tuesday.
19-year-old Kartik Sharma, a wicket-keeper batsman from Rajasthan, has scored 334 runs in 12 T20s at a strike rate of 164 hitting 28 sixes. Like Veer, Sharma too fetched the price of Rs 14.20 crore, an amount 47.3 times his base price of Rs 30 lakh.
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