Chennai Super Kings’ all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has clarified that the franchise had signed Dewald Brevis fairly during the Indian Premier League 2025. The former Indian off-spinner said no one was at fault when CSK signed the South African batter.
Brevis had gone unsold at the auction despite setting his base price at INR 75 lakhs, but later he was picked as an injury replacement for Gurjapneet Singh for INR 2.2 crore by Chennai Super Kings.
Brevis scored 225 runs in six matches for CSK at an average of 37.50 and a strike rate of 180 in IPL 2025, and thus, he was one of the positives for the team.
Ashwin had created a controversy, stating that CSK were willing to pay Brevis an extra amount, but later clarified his statement.
Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “We live in such times where we have to clarify even true stories. In that way, it is a bit tricky. But I won’t go there. There is no one at fault here. The clarification here on this matter has arisen from the fact that a lot of people have doubts. The point is the player is not at fault, the franchise is not at fault, and maybe the governing body is also not at fault. All of us need to understand that if a franchise needs a player, the franchise talks to the player or the player’s agent and tells the BCCI, ‘Look, so-and-so player of ours is injured, we need another player. ’ The matter gets closed there.”
“The IPL or those who need to give approval give the approval, and the player comes and plays. If there was any fault here, that player would not have played in the franchise. This is not about Brevis; it is generally the case. There is one other thing I want to explain. My intention in the video was to describe how well Brevis was batting. We have to understand that every player who plays in the IPL has a tri-parted contract: The player, franchise, and the IPL have a binding contract.”
Ashwin recalled that Royal Challengers Bengaluru had also signed Chris Gayle as an injury replacement in the IPL.
“So if something is wrong with it, it won’t get ratified. That is why, probably, the tweet that said clause so-and-so makes complete sense. The flexibility that is there with the IPL’s injury replacement, everyone is making use of it. It is not only CSK who have picked a replacement; there have been several other teams. RCB have taken Chris Gayle in the past, and he became a superstar. Injury replacements are a common facet of the IPL, and even in that, the rule flexibility that you have, how you make use of that, within the limit, you can use it. That is the point”.
On the other hand, Ashwin showered praise on Dewald Brevis for his fine performances against Australia. Brevis smashed a 41-ball century against Australia in the second T20I at the Marrara Cricket Ground, Darwin, on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old scored an unbeaten knock of 125 runs off just 56 balls with the help of 12 fours and eight sixes. This was Brevis’ maiden T20I century. The youngster scored 180 runs in three games against Australia at an average of 90 and a blistering strike rate of 204.55.
“If you are a South Africa fan or a CSK fan, it is time to be absolutely excited for Dewald Brevis. Dewald Brevis is a special talent, there is no doubt about it. I think he is going to have some fabulous performances and he is going to be in some teams that will go on to win some competitions,” the veteran of 106 Tests said.
According to reports, Ashwin and CSK are set to part ways.
